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Copyright,  IQ04,  by  J.  Martin  Aliller.  Reproduced  by  special  permission  from  U.  S.  War  Department  photographs. 

A  KOREAN  PONY 

The  disembarkation  methods  of  the  Japanese  excited  as  much  admiration  im  did  their 
mobilization  of  troops.  At  Chemulpo  they  purchased  a  great  number  of  native  ponies  which 
they  used  as  beasts  of  burden.  The  little  animal  above  shown  has  a  carpenter's  kit 
strapped  to  his  back. 


W.      jh 


Copyright,  igof,  by  J.  Martin  Milter.  Reproduced  by  special  permission  from  U.  S.  IVar  Department  photographs. 

JAPANESE  SOLDIERS  OFF  DUTY 

The  compulsory  service  and  the  strict  physical  requirements  enabled  Japan  to  put  a 
large  hoc'  '  of  trained  soldiers  into  the  field  at  short  notice.  A  report  recently  received  at 
the  U.  S  Bureau  of  Military  Information,  said:  "  The  Japanese  army  has  established  its  title 
as  an  efficient  organization.     The  men  are  alfirt..  keen  and  well  di-sciplined." 


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Copyright,  iqo4,  by  J.  Martin  Miller.  Reproduced  by  special  permission  from  U.  S.  IVar  Deparlmetit  photographs. 

A  KOREAN  PONY 

The  disembarkation  methods  of  the  Japanese  excited  as  much  admiration  as  did  their 
mobiHzation  of  troops.  At  Chemulpo  they  purchased  a  great  number  of  native  ponies  which 
they  used  as  beasts  of  burden.  Tlie  little  animal  above  shown  has  a  carpenter's  kit 
strapped  to  his  back. 


Copyright,  igo4,  by  J.  Martin  Miller.  Reproduced  by  special  permission  from  U.  S.  War  Department  photographs. 

JAPANESE  SOLDIERS  OFF  DUTY 

The  compulsory  service  and  the  strict  physical  requirements  enabled  Japan  to  put  a 
large  bo<^  '  of  trained  soldiers  into  the  field  at  short  notice.  A  report  recently  received  at 
the  U.  S  Bureau  of  Military  Information,  said:  "  The  Japanese  armv  has  established  its  title 
aa  an  efficient  organization."   The  men  are  alert,  keen  and  well  disciplined." 


Copyngl.t,  /Q04,  by  J.  Martin  Miller.      Reproduced  by  special  permission  from  U.  S.  War  Department  photographs, 

A  RUSSIAN  SOUP  WAGON 

The  Czar  takes  good  care  of  his  soldiers.  A  notable  feature  of  the  equipment  of  the 
Russians  is  the  traveling  field  kitchen,  consisting  of  a  boiler  mounted  in  a  special  wagon, 
so  arranged  that  it  keeps  the  army  soup  hot  while  being  served. 


Copyright,  jgo4.  by  J.  Martin  Miller.  Reproduced  by  special  permission  from   U.  S.   IVar  Department  photographs. 

A  RUSSIAN  MILITARY  CART 

This  rather  rude  conveyance  is  used  by  Russian  en^neers  for  hauling  lumber  and 
other  materials  ased  in  the  construction  of  fortifications,  railroads,  etc.  The  sturdy  driver, 
the  shaggy  pony,  with  his  high-bowed  collar,  complete  a  picture,  portraying  a  rather  unique 
phase  of  military  l.fe  in  the  army  of  the  Czar. 


THRILLING  STORIES 

OF    THE 

Russian-Japanese  War 

A  Vivid  Panorama  of 

Land  and  Naval  Battles 

A  REALISTIC  DESCRIPTION    OF  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY   WARFARE 

THB  AWFUL  STRUGGLE  FOR  JAPANESE  FREEDOM, THE  PEACE  AND  SAFETY  OFTHE  ORIENT, 
AND  THE  PROTECTION  OF  HELPLESS  CHINA  FROM  THE  GREED  OF  FOREIGN  FOES. 

ALSO    A 

Complete  History  of  Japan,  Russia,  China,  Korea  and  Manchuria 

Indtuiing  FrogrtUy  Natiotud  Trtitt  and  Customs^  Relighn^  P/kiloscfAy,  Ptmrna/  Adventure,  etc. 

BV 

J.   MARTIN    MILLER 

THB  CELEBRATED  HISTORJAV,  WAR  CORRESPONDENT  AND  TRAVBLBK 

Author  of  **  China' Ancient  and  Modern: "  TTveniieth  Crntury  Atlas  and  History  of 
■  the  Wtrld;  Etc.,  Etc. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BT 

GENERAL  NELSON  A.  MILES 

TktgrteUest  military  authority  in  the  country,  who  recently  made  a  tour  of  the  Par  East,  •a/here  his 
position  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  U.  S.  Army  brought  him  in  close  touch 
with  ihs  itaeUrs  of  the  Russian  and  Japanese  forces 

Graphically  Illustrated  with  Nearly  lOO  Superb  Engravings 

CONSISTING  OF  LAND  AND  NAVAL  ;  ATTLES.  VIEWS  OF  WAR  SHIPS, 
PORTRAITS  OF  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  COMMANDERS,  PICT'JRHS  OF 
FAMOUS CITIBS,  FCRTS,  TBMPLSS  AKD SNAP-SHOTS  OF  EVER Y-DAlt  ll-TB. 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
J.  MARTIN  MILLER 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  NELSON  A.  MILES 

{Copyright,  igo4,   by  /.  Martin  Miller.) 

A  book  that  will  give  a  fair  description  of  the  territory  soon  to 
be  occupied  by  two  or  more  great  armies;  that  shall  give,  in  brief,  a 
history  of  the  country,  its  inhabitants,  their  industries,  their  modes  of 
life,  their  beliefs  or  superstitions,  their  ideals  and  their  ideas  of  gov- 
ernment, of  the  rights  of  man  and  the  duties  and  obligations  of  man 
to  hereditary,  delegated,  or  usurped  power;  the  history  of  the  various 
political  and  military  questions  that  have  led  up  to  the  impending 
war,  as  well  as  a  description  of  the  two  immediate  contending  armies, 
their  differences  in  personnel,  in  discipline,  in  equipment  and  experi- 
ence; as  well  as  a  forecast  of  the  probable  results — must  be  exceed- 
ingly interesting  to  the  reading  public  at  this  time  in  every  part  of 
the  world. 

Mr.  J.  Martin  Miller  has  been  a  war  correspondent  in  the  Philip- 
pines and  in  the  allied  campaign  in  China.  He  made  the  march  to 
Pekin  with  the  Japanese  army. 

He  was  also  with  the  Russian  army.during  a  portion  of  that  cam- 
paign. He  has  been  over  the  ground  where  the  war  is  now  being 
waged,  in  Korea,  Manchuria  and  Siberia,  and  now  presents  a 
description  of  the  country  and  an  account  of  the  war  between  Russia 
and  Japani 

It  is  singular  that  in  this  enlightened  age,  progressive  in  art  and 
science  if  not  in  political  virtue,  there  should  be  at  this  time  more 
hundreds  of  millions  of  treasure,  drawn  from  the  industries  of  the 
people,  expended  in  preparations  for  war,  in  the  most  expensive  and 


4  INTRODUCTION 

most  terribly  destructive  implements  and  engines  of  war,  and  more 
millions  of  men,  civilized,  semi-civilized  and  barbarous  tribes  organ- 
ized, drilled,  disciplined,  instructed  and  equipped  for  service  or  sacri- 
fice in  the  great  armies  and  navies  of  the  world,  than  at  any  former 
period.  The  great  bulk  of  this  expenditure  of  the  energy  and  life,  as 
well  as  the  treasure  of  the  nations,  is  useless,  and  would  be  unneces- 
sary if  reason  and  justice  and  humanity  could  prevail  in  the  place  of 
physical  force  or  high  explosives. 

The  best  men  in  many  countries  haye  been  advocates  and  cham- 
pions of  peace. 

A  Congress  of  Nations  was  the  most  eloquent  theme  of  one  of 
America's  most  eminent  statesmen  fifty  years  ago.  Such  a  high 
tribunal  has  been  urged  by  the  first  of  every  land.  Even  the  present 
autocrat  of  all  the  Russias  has  been  the  foremost  man  of  his  age  in 
urging  and  calling  a  congress  of  nations  with  a  view  to  relieving  the 
people  in  some  degree  from  the  heavy  burdens  of  great  standing 
armies  and  formidable  navies. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  better  influences  and  better  judgment 
of  many  of  the  best  informed  and  best  hearted  people  of  different 
countries,  we  find  the  energies  of  two  great  nations  being  devoted  to 
the  bringing  together  of  the  physical  power  of  both  in  a  war  that 
must  cost  tens  if  not  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  and  billions  of 
treasure.     It  cannot  but  result  injuriously  to  both. 

Japan,  on  the  one  hand,  the  oldest  dynasty  in  the  world,  has  been 
making  wonderful  strides  in  useful  industries  and  commercial 
development.  Naturally  a  peaceful,  polite  people  living  in  a  most 
beautiful  country,  universally  fond  of  art  and  skillful  to  a  high 
degree — the  treasure  expended  in  this  war,  if  it  could  be  devoted  to 
the  further  development  of  her  civil,  educational  and  commercial 
interests,  would  place  her  prominent  among  the  nations  of  the  world 
Yet  the  introduction  of  modern  appliances  of  war,  and  her  experi 
ence  and  great  success  over  a  powerful  neighbor  ten  times  her  own 


INTRODUCTION  S 

numerical  strength,  have  inspired  her  people  with  a  confidence  and 
martial  spirit  that  will  probably  be  satisfied,  whatever  may  be  the 
result  of  the  struggle,  only  after  a  devastating  war.  Her  army  and 
navy  are  commanded  by  skillful  and  experienced  officers;  both 
branches  of  the  service  are  in  the  main  well  equipped  and  under 
most  positive,  absolute  discipline.  Her  navy  in  Asiatic  waters  is 
superior  to  that  of  Russia,  but  would  not  be  if  the  latter  were  con- 
centrated. 

The  present  and  future  interests  of  the  great  Russian  Empire 
would  seem  to  be  best  subserved  by  a  long-conf'nued  period  of 
peace.  Her  experience  in  the  last  hundred  years  has  demonstrated 
her  military  prowess,  and  the  loyalty,  fortitude  and  courage  of  her 
people.  She  has  devoted  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  the 
development  of  her  great  civil  enterprise,  the  Siberian  Railway, 
which  opens  a  vast  area  of  sparsely  populated  country,  capable  of 
developing  enormous  resources  and  furnishing  millions  of  homes  to 
an  industrious,  frugal  people.  She  has  opened  a  new  avenue  of  com- 
munication and  commerce  "around  the  old  world."  And  yet,  at  a 
time  when  peaceful  enterprises  can  best  be  promoted  all  must  be 
checked  or  subordinated  to  the  martialing  of  mighty  hosts  to  settle  a 
disputed  question  upon  the  red  fields  of  war. 

What  seems  to  be  the  pending  battle  ground,  Manchuria,  is  prac- 
tically an  open  country,  undulated  by  hills  and  valleys  and  occupied 
by  millions  of  Chinamen,  but  a  country  well  adapted  for  maneuvering 
large  armies,  though  poorly  supplied  with  sustenance  required  by 
armies  of  such  magnitude. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  within  the  next  twelve  months  two  navies 
better  equipped  with  all  the  destructive  engines  of  war,  battleships, 
cruisers,  torpedo  boats,  torpedo  destroyers,  submarine  vessels,  high- 
power,  rapid-fire  machine  guns,  will  contend  for  the  mastery  of  the 
waters,  while  two  great  armies  composed  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  brave  men  and  skillful  officers,  armed  with  the  most  destructive 


i  INTRODUCTION 

rifles,  quick-firing  artillery,  etc.,  will  clash  in  mortal  combat  for  each 
other's  destruction,  and  for  the  possession  of  the  territories  of  Korea 
and  Manchuria. 

The  daily  intelligence  of  this  great  tragedy  will  be  flashed  around 
the  world  by  the  electric  telegraph  and  cables,  while  the  whole  civil- 
ized world  will  witness  the  changing  scenes,  either  with  awe  or  adula- 
tion. 

Whether  there  will  be  any  great  question  of  moral  or  political 
significance  settled  by  the  result  remains  to  be  seen;  or  whether  any 
result  which  will  compensate  for  the  sacrifice  is  very  problematical. 
Certainly  there  has  recently  been  no  serious  problem  in  which  the 
great  powers  have  been  actively  concerned,  or  so  many  of  the  human 
race  affected,  as  the  one  now  pending.  Any  book  that  will  enable  its 
readers  to  intelligently  understand  the  condition  of  the  country  and 
follow  the  movements  of  the  different  armies  and  navies  as  the  cam- 
paign develops  might  well  be  commended  to  the  reading  public. 


THE  JAPANESE   POINT   OF  VIEW 

BY  KOGORO  TAKAHIRA 

Envoy  Eztxaordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  Japan  to  the  United  States. 

[  The  author  called  upon  the  Mikado's  diplomatic  representative  at 
IVashingtofi  the  day  after  the  war  broke  out,  when  he  dictated  the  fol" 
lowing  for  this  work  as  his  view  of  the  situation  i\ 

My  advices  from  Tokio  tell  me  that  the  war  now  going  on 
between  my  country  and  Russia  began  with  a  Russian  attack  at  Che- 
mulpo, Korea,  on  Monday  last,  and  not  with  the  Japanese  attack  at 
Port  Arthur. 

My  government  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  with  Russia  on 
February  5th.  Even  though  my  government  did  begin  the  war  by 
attacking  the  Russian  fleet  at  Port  Arthur,  there  is  nothing  irregular 
about  it;  the  action  would  need  no  explanation  or  defence.  I  simply 
mention  the  fact  in  the  interest  of  historical  accuracy. 

The  likening  of  our  sinking  the  Russian  ships  at  Port  Arthur  to 
the  Spaniards'  blowing  up  the  Maine  in  Havana  Harbor,  as  I  see  the 
French  papers  have  done  to-day,  is  amusing.  This,  probably  is  the 
first  time  the  French  have  ever  charged  the  Spaniards  with  destroy- 
ing the  Maine.  If  I  remember,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War,  the  French  were  indignant  at  any  suggestion  made 
in  America  that  their  friends,  the  Spaniards,  committed  such  an  act. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  present  crisis  in  the  far  East  is  a 
matter  of  grave  concern  to  you  and  the  readers  of  your  book.  I  hope 
that  I  may  go  further  and  assume  that,  in  some  measure  at  least,  the 
opinion  you  have  formed  is  favorable  to  the  cause  which  my  country 
represents.  But  whatever  your  attitude  or  that  of  your  readers  may 
be,  whether  in  perfect  agreement  with  mine  or  not,  it  is  not  to  your 

7 


8  THE  JAPANESE   POINT   OF   VIEW 

sympathy  but  to  your  judgment  I  would  appeal.  Let  me  add,  also, 
that  I  do  not  seek  to  gain  from  you  a  larger  measure  of  good  will 
because  the  interests  of  our  countries  in  the  far  East  are  to  some 
extent  identical.  No  one  speaking  with  knowledge  in  Japan's  behalf 
has  ever  made  that  plea. 

All  who  are  familiar  with  the  Eastern  situation  know  that  a  num- 
ber  of  the  powers  have  interests  in  common  in  China — interests  of 
the  greatest  value.  Your  own  government  has  shown  in  the  most 
marked  manner  that  it  was  fully  cognizant  of  the  importance  of 
these  interests,  and  alive  to  the  undesirable  results  that  might  follow 
if  they  were  not  properly  safeguarded.  Yet  this  fact,  and  others 
equally  well  known  and  equally  significant,  have  not  prevented  the 
attempt  to  picture  Japan  as  pretending  that  she  was  acting  from 
altruistic  motives,  presumptuously  arrogating  to  herself  the  r6le  of 
champion  of  a  common  cause.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the 
truth  than  this  cunning  device  to  arouse  prejudice  and  befog  the 
actual  situation.  Japan  took  the  initiative  because  the  impending 
peril,  while  it  threatened  others  in  a  measure,  was  to  her  a  matter  of 
far  greater  moment. 

There  is  another  matter  to  which  I  would  ask  your  attention.  It 
has  been  frequently  said — so  frequently  that  the  statement  may  have 
gained  some  credence — that  a  Chauvinistic  and  aggressive  spirit  is 
so  predominant  among  my  countrymen  as  to  render  an  equitable  and 
honorable  accommodation  of  the  questions  at  issue  practicall}'  impos- 
sible. So  far  as  this  charge  is  concerned,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
let  the  facts  speak  for  themselves.  Undoubtedly  the  past  few  months 
have  been  a  period  of  public  disquiet  and  excitement  in  Japan. 
Equally  without  doubt,  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  irresponsible 
popular  clamor.  But  in  all  fairness,  was  this  either  unnatural  or, 
reasonably  regarded,  a  just  cause  for  criticism?  Supposing  that 
equally  vital  questions  were  at  issue  in  this  or  any  other  country,  and 
supposing,   also,   that   the    negotiations  dragged   unaccountably   or 


THE  JAPANESE   POINT  OF  VIEW  9 

seemed  to  be  intentionally  delayed  for  an  unfriendly  purpose,  would 
there  not  be  similar  manifestations  of  discontent  and  unrest? 

The  course  of  the  Japanese  government  itself  under  these  trying 
circumstances,  its  manifest  determination  to  neglect  no  means  of 
peaceful  settlement  and  to  essay  every  avenue  of  honorable  accord, 
is  sufficient  to  reply  to  this  accusation.  Under  the  wise  guidance  of 
His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  my  august  master,  the  motto  of  the 
Empire,  the  sole  rule  of  action,  first  and  last  throughout  this  contro- 
versy, has  been  peace  with  honor  and  safety.  In  the  earnest  endeavor 
to  secure  this  desirable  end.  His  Majesty  has  had  the  loyal  and  cor- 
dial support  of  the  enlightened  public  opinion  of  the  Empire,  and  I 
feel  confident  the  verdict  of  history  will  be  that  no  prompting  of  self- 
esteem,  no  yearning  for  self-glorification  was  permitted  for  an  instant 
to  interfere  with  the  patient  effort  to  secure  an  equitable  and  lasting 
agreement  upon  the  questions  at  issue. 

The  position  assumed  by  Japan  was  the  logical  result  of  her 
environment  and  of  the  inexorable  necessities  of  national  safety. 
Considerations  not  merely  of  self-interest  or  self-respect,  but  of  self- 
protection,  have  led  her  to  where  she  now  stands.  The  increase  of 
her  military  and  naval  strength  has  been  criticised  as  an  indication 
of  a  desire  for  national  aggrandizement  at  the  cost  of  others.  Even 
if  it  were  not  the  fact,  as  it  unquestionably  is,  that  her  progress  along 
more  peaceful  lines  has  been  as  notable  as  her  military  and  naval 
growth,  no  more  convincing  evidence  than  the  present  crisis  is  needed 
to  prove  that  such  preparation  was  the  dictate  of  wise  precaution. 

The  burden  upon  the  nation's  resources  is  not  a  light  one,  but 
think  of  the  infinitely  heavier  burden  Japan  would  have  to  bear  if, 
instead  of  her  present  neighbors,  a  potential  enemy  of  uncertain  pur- 
pose and  overwhelming  strength  was  firmly  intrenched  upon  her  vast 
threshold.  It  is  this  contingencj'  against  which  we  have  to  guard, 
but  in  attempting  to  do  so  we  have  never  sought  to  impede  in  any 
manner  the  development  of  the  legitimate  ambitions  of  other  nations 


lo  THE  JAPANESE   POINT  OF   VIEW 

or  the  enjoyment  by  them  of  vested  rights  lawfully  acquired.  From 
the  outset  the  representations  made  in  Japan's  behalf  have  been  con- 
fined within  clearly  defined  limits.  They  may  be  summed  up  in  a  word 
— respect  for  the  territorial  integrity  and  independence  of  China  and 
Korea;  faithful  observance  of  treaty  stipulations,  and  due  recognition 
of  the  validity  of  the  special  interest  created  by  existing  conditions. 

A  few  days  ago  I  read  an  editorial  in  an  American  newspaper 
wherein  Japan  was  represented  as  having  interfered  without  invita- 
-tion  and  without  warrant  in  the  affairs  of  China  and  Korea.  Only 
ignorance  of  the  actual  situation  could  suggest  such  a  criticism. 
Every  impartial  observer  familiar  with  the  facts  must  acknowledge, 
I  feel  convinced,  that  Japan's  action  was  in  pursuance  of  clear  duty 
and  assured  right,  and  was  fully  warranted  by  her  conventional  rela- 
tions with  both  China  and  Korea. 

Her  sole  desire  was  to  terminate  a  state  of  affairs  clouded  with 
uncertainties  which  threatened  present  loss  and  future  danger,  and 
to  evolve  from  indefinite  assurances  and  nebulous  promises,  regard- 
ing matters  in  which  she  was  vitally  interested,  an  understanding 
clearly  defining  the  rights  and  the  duties  of  all  concerned.  It  may 
have  been  over  sanguine  to  attempt  such  a  task,  but  the  attempt 
itself  was  justified  by  the  law  of  nations  and  by  an  even  more  impera- 
tive obligation  in  the  duty  of  self-protection. 

In  i8q5  Japan  gained  a  foothold  in  Manchuria  by  right  of  con- 
quest. Russia  thereupon  took  the  initiative  in  intervening  on  the 
ground  that  Japan's  occupation  of  the  Li  Liao-Tung  Peninsula  was  a 
menace  to  the  peace  of  the  East  and  the  integrity  of  China.  After- 
ward, first  through  undertakings  nominally  peaceful  and  subservient 
to  Chinese  sovereignty,  then  on  pretext  based  on  internal  disorders 
in  China,  but  at  no  time  justified  by  actual  conditions,  Russia  herself 
took  armed  possession  of  the  whole  of  Manchuria.  She  bound  her- 
■self  by  treaty  to  withdraw  in  1903,  but  subsequently  made  withdrawal 
contingent  upon  stipulations,  an  acceptance  of  which  would  not  have 


THE  JAPANESE   POINT  OF  VIEW  n 

left  a  vestige  of  real  sovereignty  to  China.  Did  not  this  give  Japan 
as  good  a  right  to  intervene  in  1903  as  Russia  did  in  1895?  To  the 
ordinary  intelligence  it  would  appear  that  the  peace  of  the  East  and 
the  integrity  of  China  were  menaced  quite  as  much  in  one  case  as  in 
^e  other. 

But  Japan  had  another  and  a  stronger  reason  for  intervention. 
Russia,  once  the  absolute  mistress  of  Manchuria,  held  Korea  at  her 
mercy.  When  she  could,  with  little  effort,  sweep  away  the  feeble 
resistance  of  that  kingdom,  it  did  not  require  extraordinary  foresight 
to  perceive  that  she  would  not  permit  even  an  independent  Korea  to 
remain  as  a  possible  embarrassment  to  her  future  control  of  the 
North  Asian  litoral.  Indeed,  the  immediate  past  furnishes  signifi- 
cant proofs  that  Russian  agents,  official  and  unofficial,  pursuing  the 
line  of  policy  which  some  term  astute  diplomacy,  but  others  know  by 
a  harsher  name,  were  blazing  the  pathway  to  that  very  goal.  Herein 
lay  the  real  menace  to  Japan,  not  alone  to  her  commercial  and  indus- 
trial interests,  but  to  her  national  repose  and  security.  For  this 
reason  she  has  intervened,  not  from  motives  of  petty  jealousy  or 
hopes  of  territorial  conquest,  nor,  least  of  all,  because  of  rankling 
memories  of  the  Liao-Tung  recession.  While  the  present  crisis  is  in 
a  sense  the  offspring  of  Russia's  action  in  1895,  the  Japanese  people 
are  content  to  deal  with  existing  issues  and  to  leave  to  impartial  his- 
tory the  decision  of  who  played  the  more  honest  part  in  that  affair. 

The  record  of  all  that  has  occurred  will  soon  be  open  to  every 
one,  and  I  feel  assured  that  you  will  find  in  it  ample  justification  for 
what  I  have  said.  I  am  confident  also  that  you  will  see  in  it  good 
reason  to  believe  that  while  this  issue  was  not  of  my  country's  seek- 
ing, she  will  face  it  calmly  and  firmly,  not  in  a  spirit  of  over-confi- 
dence, as  one  underestimating  a  powerful  adversary,  but  with  the 
assured  conviction  that  in  the  words  of  your  great  President,  she  is 
following  the  right,  as  God  gives  her  to  see  the  right,  and  in  the  end 
justice  must  prevail. 


VL^i^/vr^ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  MIKADO. 
A  Man  of  Advanced  Ideas,  His  Habits  and  Appearance — Twenty-five  Centuries  of  Un- 
broken Succession — The  Oldest  Book  in  the  Japanese  Language — Records  Carefully 
Preserved — The  Theatre  a  Mirror  of  Actual  History — Celebrated  Classics  of  Japan — 
The  Creation   i> 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 
The   Fujiwara — The   Rise   of  the    Shoguns — Influence   of   the   Military    Classes — ^Feudal 
Etiquette — Armor  and  Weapons  of  War — Suicide,  a  Principle  of  Honor — Social  Forms 
— The  Swords  a  Divme  Symbol — The  Samurai 27 

CHAPTER  III. 
LIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 
Victories   of   Peace — The   Primal   Japanese  Type — Religious   Institutions — Images,   Idols 
and  Bells — Influence  of  the  Priests — Mediaeval  Science,  Art  and  Literature — Provincial 
Barriers — Medicine  and  Surgery — Court  life — Evolution  of  the  Language 43 

CHAPTER  rV. 
INVASION  OF  THE  MONGOL  TARTARS. 
Embassies  from  China — The  Chinese  Armada — Acts  of  Personal   Bravery — Heroism  of 
Michiari — The  Whole  Nation  Aroused — The  Wrath  of  Heaven — To  th^  Victor  Belongs 
llie  Spoils — Evil  Counsel — The  Divinity  of  Kings — The  Temporary  Mikadoate 60 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  WAR  OF  THE  CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Divine  Origin  of  the  Mikado — Violent  Hands  Never  Laid  upon  the  Emperor's  Person — 
Two  Mikados — The  North  Against  the  South — National  Heroes — Kusunoki,  the  Brave 
— Lust  for  Land  and  War — The  Succession  Settled — Complete  List  of  Mikados 71 

CHAPTER  VI. 
RISE  AS  A  MODERN  POWER. 
The  Oimate  and   Flora  of  Japan — The   Fuji-San — Origin  of  the   Japanese  Race — The 
"Feathered  Men" — Peculiarities  of  the  Japanese  Language — Energetic  Japanese  Era- 
presses — The  Avolition  of  Christianity — The  Ancient  Authority  of  the  Mikado  Tri- 
umphs   79 

CHAPTER  VII. 
JAPANESE  HOME  LIFE. 
Social    Customs — Japanese    Houses — Marriage    Customs — The    Family — The    Bath — No 
Mode    Modesty — Household    Utensils — Very    Little    Furniture — The    Cuisine — Pooriy 
V«fitflated  Bed-Rooms    91 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

Buddhism  in  Its  Early  Purity — A  Popular  Religion — Eternal  Life  Not  to  Be  Desired — 

Various  Sects — Nichirerf — Buddhist  Protestants — Shintoism,  Its  Gods  and  Symbols — 

How  the   Records   Were   PTe«:erved — Christianity — Its   Introduction   and   Eradication 

— Early  Mart3rr5 — The  Jesuits — The  Fire  Smol<§eri«g 99 

13 


14  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
ANCIENT  RUSSIA. 
Her  Early  Domain — Good  and  Bad  Rulers — When  Converted  to  Christianity — ^Vladimir, 
a  Great  Name  in  Russian  History — 'Wholesale  Baptism — Translation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
tures-— Destruction  of  Kief — The  Hanseatic  League — Moscow 114. 

CHAPTER  X. 

MEDIAEVAL  RUSSIA. 

Russian's  Historical  Development — New  Races  of  Men — The  Tartar  Invasion — Alexander 

Nevsky — Value  of  Diplomacy  with  Force — Mingling  of  Tartars  with  Russians — Blood 

Tax — The    Mongol    Yoke — The    Rise   and    Fall    of    Lithuania — Shares    the    Fate    of 

Poland   126 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  MUSCOVITE  DYNASTY. 

The  Corner-Stone  of  the  Russian  Empire — Early  History — The  Princes  of  Moscow — A 

New  Dynasty — Wars  between  the  Muscovite  and  the  Tartar — Historic  Battle  on  the 

Donskoi   River — Dimitri    Donskoi — Tamerlane — The  Vassilli — The  Birth   of  Russia — 

Ivan  the  Great — A  Notable  Reign , 145. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  FIRST  CZAR. 
Ivan   the  Terrible — Early  Dernoralization — Shuiski   Thrown  to  the   Dogs — Influence   of 
Ivan's  Wife — Awful   Atrocities — Proposes  Marriage  to  Queen  Elizabeth — Feodor  the 
Imbecile — Boris  the  Evil  Genius — The  False  Dimitri — Vassilli  Shuiski IST" 

CHAPTER  XIIL 
THE  ROMANOFFS. 
The  House  of  Rurik  Becomes  Extinct — Election  of  a  New  Czar — Michael  Romanoff, 
Founder  of  Russia,  Chosen — His  Administration  Marked  by  Great  Wisdom — His  Son 
Alexis  Succeeds  Him — Incorporation  of  Ukraine  and  Country  of  the  Cossacks — Wars 
with  Sweden  and  Poland — Civil  Rebellion — Feodor  III  Ascends  the  Throne — Old 
Custom  of  Choosing  a  Wife  for  the  Czar  Abolished — Ivan  and  Peter  Become  Joint 
Sovereigns — Peter   the    Great,    His    Remarkable   Character — Wars-  with    Sweden    and 

Turkey — Founding  of  St.  Petersburg   17a 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES. 
Catherine  I  Ascends  the  Throne — Her  Humble  Origin — Menzikoflf,  Her  Prime  Minister — 
The  Brief  Reign  of  Peter  II — Anna  of  Courland  Becomes  Czarina — Elizabeth,  Daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great,  Crowned  Empress — Peter  III,  Elizabeth's  Nephew,  Made  Czar — 
His  Consort,  Catherine,  Called  "The  Great,"  Succeeds  Him — Her  Bloodthirsty  and 
Tyrannical  Career — Her  Immoral  Character — The  Orloffs — Russian  Empire  Extended 
— Catherine's  Friendship  for  America — Her  Death I&F 

CHAPTER  XV. 
RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 
The  Reign  of  Paul  I — Issues  Ukase  Limiting  Succession  to  Male  Line — His  Policy  One 
of  Conciliation — His  Ignoble  End — Alexander  I,  His  Foreign  and  Domestic  Policy — 
Opposes  Napoleon's  Despotism — The  Battles  of  Austerlitz  and  Friedland — French 
Invasion  of  Russia — The  Retreat  from  Moscow — Capture  of  Paris — Overthrow  of  the 
Great  Corsican — Death  of  Alexander   igS 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 
A  Born   Soldier — His   Marriage — Abdicates   the   Throne — Nicholas   I — His    Cathechisms 
— Champions  the  Greeks — An  Insurrection — The  Crimean  War — The  Result  of  a  Hasty 
Policy 207 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  15 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  3TRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA. 

The  Serfs  Liberated — Internal  Disturbances — Russia  Advances  into  Asia  Minor — ^The 
First  Pacific  Port — Relations  between  Russia  and  the  United  States — War  with  Tur- 
key— The  Emperor  Assassinated— The  Reign  of  Alexander  III — His  Son  Ascends 
the  Throne   22a 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

NICHOLAS  IL 

A  Puny  Boy — Falls  in  Love  with  a  Ballet  Dancer — Travels  Abroad — ^Attempted  Assas- 
sination— The  Meaning  of  Loyalty — The  Mikado  Orders  the  Would-be  Murderer  to 
Be  Executed — Marriage — Coronation — A  Disciple  of  Peace — Finland — Character  of 
Nicholas   II 23a 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

The  Bone  of  Contention — History  of  the  Country — Seoul,  the  Capital — Chemulpo — Fusan, 
the  Gateway  to  Korea — Classes  of  People — Slavery — Korean  Literature — Industries — 
Commercial   Importance 24J 

CHAPTER  XX. 

SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA. 

Relation  of  Siberia  to  Russia— How  Separated  from  Manchuria — Inhabitants — How  the 
Country  Was  Settled — Siberian  Prisoners — Manchuria  at  the  Beginning  of  the  War — 
Harbin,  the  Moscow  of  Asia — A  Commercial  Power — Natural  History  of  Eastern  Asia. 259 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY. 

The  First  Shot — Port  Arthur  the  Scene — The  Russian  View — Statement  of  Japanese 
Minister  at  Washington — Hostilities  at  Chemulpo — Russia's  Reply  in  the  Hands  of 
Alexieff — Preparation  for  War — The  Unanimity  of  the  Japanese  Nation — The  Diverse 
Elements  of  Russia — Russia's  Presentation  of  the  Diplomatic  Negotiations — The  Czar's 
Supreme  Manifesto — Secretary  Hay's  Note  271 

CHAPTER  XXIL 
RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 
Japanese  Armies — Uniform  and  Accoutrements  of  the  Russian  Troops — Transportation 
Methods — What  the  Japanese  Soldier  Wears — His  Knapsack — His  Pay — Discipline  of 
the  Japanese  Army — The  Drill — Russians  and  Japanese  Equal  in  Courage  and  Disci- 
pline— Number  of  Troops  in  Field 279 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS. 
American  Nurses  Offer  Their  Services  to  Japan — The  First  Expedition — What  the  Offer 
Meant  to  Japan — The  Japanese  Red  Cross  Society — United  States  Officers  Study  the 
War — Uniforms  Required — Absence  of  Swords — Military  Etiquette 291 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 
Anarchy  in  China  Feared — Secretary  Hay's  Note — Severance  of  Diplomatic  Relations 
between  Japan  and  Russia — The  Daring  Torpedo  Attack  on  Port  Arthur — Japanese 
Success  Establishes  Chinese  Influence — Naval  Conflict  at  Chemulpo — First  Prizes  of 
the  War — Arrival  of  Japanese  Troops  at  Seoul — Repulse  of  Japanese  Landing  Party 
— Destruction  of  the  Boyarin  302 


i6  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXV- 
THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 
The  Fourth  Assault — Wireless  Telegraphy  Used  by  Jrpanese — Thrilling  Torpedo  Duel — 
Bottling  up  the  Russian  Reet — ^The  Japanese  Send  in  Fire  Ships — The  Fifth  Attack 
— Hirose,  the  Hero — Description  of  the  Beleaguered  City — Vrvid  Account  of  th«  Bom- 
bardment by  a  Russian  Officer 315 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 
The  Assassin  of  the  Sea — A  Five  Million  Dollar  Boat  and  Eight  Hundred  Men  Lost — 
Miraculous  Escape  of  Grand  Duke  Cyril — Description  of  the  Petropavlovsk — ^Admiral 
Makarofif — How  a  Submarine  Fights — Enticed  into  a  Trap — An  Eye  Witness  Describes 
the  Disaster — Russian  Torpedo  Boais  Sink  a  Japanese  Transport — Loss  of  the  Yoshino 
and  Hatsuse  325 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

FIRST  LAND  BATTLES. 

The  Battle  of  Cbong-ju — The  Drama  of  the  YaJu — The  First  Move — Japanese  Guxuiery 
— The  Russians  Evacuate  Tiger  Hill — Masterlj  Strategy — Russian  Guns  Silenced — A 
Frontal  Attack — Planting  the  Japanese  Flag  on  the  Ridge — ^A  Desperate  Bayoaet 
Charge — The  Moral  Effect  of  the  Victory. 342 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 
Nanshan  Hill— The  Russian  Army  Strongly  Fortified — Caliber  of  Russian  Guns  Ascer- 
tained— Battlefield  Lighted  tsy  Electricity — A  Gap  in  the  Defence — Capture  of  Kirvchou 
— Storming  the  Hei^rts — A  Famous  Victory — Japanese  Valor — Evacuation  of  Dalny 
— Story  by  an  Eye  Witness — Loss  on  Both  Sides 353 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN. 
The  Commander-in-Chief  Arrives — His  Journey   from   St.   Petersburg — Ji»anese  Move- 
ment Hidden — The  Affair  at  Vagenfuchu — A  Cossack  Charge — AJcxieff  and  Koura- 
patkin  Fail  to  Agree — ^Mikado's  Soldiers  Worthy  of  Praise — Chinese  Bandit* ^3 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 
An  Outpost  Battle — Capture  of  Saitnatze— Advance  of  the  Japanese  Army — The  Fighting 
Avound  Siuyen — The  Battle  of  Vafangow — Thrilling  Description  by  Eye  Witness — 
Mountain  Passes  Captured  372 

CHAPTER  XXXL 
RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 
Ob^ctive  Point  of  the  Japanese  Array — ^The  Capture  of  Kaichou — Haicheng  the  Goal — 
A  Sanguinary  Conflict — Motien  Pass — OflScial  Reports  of  the  Engagement — A  Russian 
Rout — A  Decisive  Victory— Yangze  Pass — Death  of  General  Keller 390 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

Admiral   Skrydloffs   Raid — The  Vladivostok   Squadron    Escapes — Togo   Encounters   the 

Russian  Fleet — Sinking  a  Russian  Guardship — Bombardment  of  the  West  Coast  of  the 

Liaotung    Peninsula — Tightening   the   Grip— The    Doomed   Fortress — Every    Position 

Occtipied — The  Bet^ning  of  -Ac  End.. ....««•>« .>•• •4U 


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THE  EMPEROR  OF  JAPAN  REVIEWING  HIS  ARMY 

Mutsvihito,  Emperor  of  Japan,  was  born  Nov.  3,  1852,  and  succeeded  to  the  throne 
Feb.  13, 1867.  In  less  than  forty  years  he  has  brought  his  country  from  semi-barbarism  to  the 
status  of  a  first-class  power  in  the  politics  of  the  world. 


AN  INCIDENT  OF  THE  WAR 

A  thousand  stories  could  be  told  of  the  lira  very  of  the  Japanese  troops.  The  above 
illustration  depicts  the  capture  of  one  of  the  enemy's  strongholds  during  the  early  days  of 
the  war.  Twice  the  Japanese  were  Ijeaten  back,  but  they  again  rallied  and  after  nearly  an 
hour  of  hand-to-hand  nghting,  swarmed  in  and  took  the  fort. 


TAMOCS  TYPES  OP  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  JAPANESE  AEMY 

Which   X!^'^"   officer,  a„d  457,480  „,e„.    Left  to  right:  Cavalry  Office. 
Infantry  Officer,  Bugler,  Infantry  Private,  Cavalry. 


TTPES  OF  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  ABMY 

Whose  war  strength  is  75,000  officers  and  4,500.000  men.     Left  to  right,  on  foot:  Horse 
Grenadier  Guard,  Infantry,  Circassian  Cossack,  Hussar,  Lancer,  Infantry  Drummer. 


GENERAL  KODAMA 

Ciommander  Japanese  land  forces. 

ADMIRAL  SAITO 

Commander  Japanese  Navy. 


ADMIRAL  ALEXIEFF 

Russian   Vicrroy  in  Maneliuria. 

GENERAL  SAHAROFF 

Commander  Russian  Army. 


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EMBARKATION  OF  RUSSIAN  TROOPS 

The  transportation  of  Russia's  troops  by  land  and  water  to  the  seat  of  war  was  a 
herculean  task.  The  above  shows  a  party  of  soldiers  boarding  a  transport  bound  for  the 
Far  East — many  of  them  never  to  retura. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portrait  of  J.  Martin  Miller. 

Portrait  of  Nelson  A.  Miles. 

Japanese  Military  Engineers. 

A  Korean  Pony. 

Japanese  Soldiers  Off  Duty. 

Russian  Infantry. 

"The  Man  Behind  the  Gun." 

Russian  Cossacjejs. 

A  Russian  Soup  Wagon. 

A  Russian  Military  Cart. 

The  Russian  Soldier. 

The  Emperor  of  Japan  Reviewing 
His  Army. 

An  Incident  of  the  War. 

Various  Types  of  Soldiers  of  the 
Japanese  Army. 

Types  of  Soldiers  of  the  Russian 
Army. 

General  Kodama. 

Admiral  Saito. 

Admiral  Alexieff. 

General  Sakharoff. 

Mr.  Kogoro  Takahira. 

Mr.  Minhui  Cho. 

Count  Cassinl 

Sir  Chen  Tung  Liang-Cheng. 

Explosion  of  a  Mine  at  Port  Ar- 
thur. 


The  Naval  Battle  at  Chemulpo. 
Exciting  Scene  on  the  Deck  of  a 

Battleship. 
Fearless  Japanese  Sailors  Firing  a 

Rifle  Cannon. 
The  Submarine  Torpedo  Boat. 
A   Successful  Torpedo  Attack   by 

Submarine  Boat. 
The  Japanese  Army  on  the  March. 
Destruction  of  a  Railroad  Bridge. 
A  Group  of  Japanese  Babies. 
Arrival  of  Our  War  Correspondent 

at  Seoul. 
The  Critical  Area  Concerned   in 

the  Russo-Japanese  War. 
Nicholas  II,  Czar  of  Russia. 
The  Czar  Reviewing  his  Troops. 
The  Czar  on  a  Tour  of  Inspection. 
"The  Little  Father  of  the  Russian 

Fleet." 
Largest  Type  of  Vessel  in  Russian 

Navy. 
Embarkation  of  Russian  Troops. 
Conscription  in  Russia. 
The  First  Land  Battle.. 
A  Hospital  Train. 
Type  of  Peasant  Woman,  Central 

Russia. 


17 


i8 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Blind   Beggar — ^Type  of   Northern 

Russia. 
Traveling  School  Teachers. 
Peasant  Woman  of  Moscow. 
"The  Man  who  is  Waking  Up." 
Monument  at  Kiev. 
Peasant  Types  of  Central  Russia. 
Scene   in   Manchuria  Before  the 

War 
A  Japanese  Battleship. 
Customs  of  Japanese  Life. 
Floating  Blacksmith  Shop. 
Hospital  Supplies. 
An  Artillery  Camp. 
Waiting  for  Orders. 
In  the  Russian  Trenches. 
The  Cossack  Lance. 
Death  to  the  Spy. 
Russian  Prisoners. 


The  Japanese  Position  on  the  Yalu. 

A  River  of  Blood. 

A  Wounded  Russian  Soldier. 

Japanese  Transportation  Methods, 

Japanese  Infantry  on  the  March. 

The  Largest  Check  Ever  Drawn. 

Countess  Cassini. 

Madame  Takahira. 

Brig.  Gen.  Henry  T.  Allen. 

Col.  John  B.  Kerr. 

Lieut.  Col,  Oliver  E.  Wood. 

Capt.  Carl  Reich  man. 

Capt.  Andre  W.  Brewster. 

Capt.  Seaton  Schroeder. 

Capt.  J.  E.  Kuhn 

Capt.  Wm.  V.  Judson 

Major  W.  D.  Beach. 

Red  Cross  Headquarters  at  Osaka.. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE   MIKADO 

A  Man  of  Advanced  Ideas,  His  Habits  and  Appearance — Twenty-five  Centuries  of  Xm- 
broken  Succession — The  Oldest  Book  in  the  Japanese  Language — Kecords  Carefu&y 
Preserved — The  Theatre  a  Mirror  of  Actual  History — Celebrated  Classics  of  Jap^n 
— The  Creation. 

COMPARATIVELY  few  foreigners  have  seen  the  Mikado  of  Japan 
closely.  In  spite  of  its  wonderful  advance  in  Occidental  idftaj  in 
recent  years,  Japan  retains  enough  of  its  orientalism  to  insist  upt^ai  a 
certain  seclusion  for  its  ruler.  Mutsuhito  breaks  away  from  his  purely 
oriental  environment  occasionally.  He  goes  among  his  people  incognito. 
While  strolling  through  the  streets  of  Tokyo  as  a  young  man  attired 
as  a  Japanese  sailor,  Mutsuhito  encountered  the  first  American  he  had 
ever  seen. 

Walking  boldly  up  to  this  son  of  Uncle  Sam,  the  boy  emperor  intro- 
duced himself  as  a  young  sailor,  and,  finding  the  American  could  speak 
a  little  Japanese,  he  poured  forth  a  flood  of  eager  questions.  The  trav- 
eler from  the  United  States  told  the  supposed  sailor  a  wonderful  tale 
of  the  results  of  American  civilization.  The  imperial  ambition  received 
new  stimulus,  and  that  interview  with  an  American  accomplished  much 
for  Japan. 

A  D3masty  Over  Two  Thousand  Years  Old. 

Mutsuhito,  Mikado  of  Japan,  is  the  present  representative  of  the  old- 
est royal  dynasty  extant.  He  was  fifteen  years  old  when  he  ascended 
the  throne  in  1867.  He  is  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-sixth  emperor  of 
his  dynasty,  which  dates  back  in  an  unbroken  line  over  2,500  years. 
(See  list  of  Mikados  at  end  of  Chapter  V.)  He  is  the  direct  descendant 
of  Jimmu,  the  "Divine  Conqueror,"  who,  according  to  Japanese  myth- 
ology, "descended  from  heaven  on  the  bird  of  the  clouds." 

19 


20  -  THE  MIKADO. 

Jimmu's  first  task  In  his  mythological  role  of  divine  conqueror  m'es 
the  subjugation  of  the  Ainos,  a  savage,  warlike  race,  whose  descendants 
are  still  found  in  the  northern  extremity  of  Japan,  Having  subdued 
these  fierce  Ainos,  Jimmu  proclaimed  himself  to  be  *Tenno,"  the  "Son 
of  Heaven,"  and  established  the  still  existing  dynasty  in  660  B.  C.  It 
is  no  exaggeration,  therefore,  to  say  that  through  the  veins  of  Mutsuhito 
Tenno  flows  the  very  bluest  of  the  blue  blood. 

The  Mikado's  Personality. 

Personally,  the  emperor  has  a  pleasant  appearance.  He  is  very  tall 
for  a  Japanese,  almost  six  feet.  He  is  muscular  and  well-proportioned. 
He  has  a  broad,  high  forehead,  and,  judged  by  the  most  exacting  stand- 
ard of  manly  beauty,  he  is  a  handsome  sovereign.  The  Mikado  takes 
more  interest  in  the  government  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  He  reads 
the  papers  and  attends  cabinet  councils.  He  takes  all  the  important 
English  and  American  magazines.  He  has  astonished  the  upper  classes 
of  Japanese  by  knowing  something  of  the  government  of  his  people. 

The  Mikado  lives  in  a  palace  built  in  the  American  way,  with  steel 
framework  made  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.  This  was  done  to  avoid  accidents 
by  earthquakes,  so  common  in  Japan.  Haruko,  Empress  of  Japan,  was 
a  daughter  of  a  Japanese  noble.  She  is  two  years  older  than  her  hus- 
band ;  her  name,  Haruko,  means  "spring  time." 

Emperor  By  Divine  Right. 

In  the  Mikado's  reign  the  bands  of  feudalism  that  bound  Japan  to 
the  middle  ages  were  broken ;  a  constitution  w^ais  granted  by  him  volun- 
tarily; the  old  social  order  of  caste  limitations  gave  way  to  a  more  lib- 
eral order  of  equality;  modern  education,  literature,  arts,  science  and 
industry  were  welcomed;  the  army  and  the  navy  were  changed  from 
the  bow  and  arrow  stage  to  modern  organizations.  It  was  only  the 
remarkable  advancement  in  the  reign  of  Mutsuhito  that  made  it  possible 
for  oriental  Japan  to  be  equal  to  the  task  of  a  possibly  successful  war 
with  Russia. 

A  dynasty  of  rulers  who  ostentatiously  boast  of  twenty-five  centuries 


THE   MIKADO.  2t 

of  unbroken  succession  should  have  solid  foundation  of  fact  for  their 
boast.  The  august  representatives  of  the  Mikado  Mutsuhito,  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-sixth  of  the  imperial  line  of  Dai  Nippon,  who,  in 
the  presence  of  the  President  and  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  claimed  the  immemorial  antiquity  of  the 
Japanese  imperial  rule,  should  have  credentials  to  satisfy  the  foreigner 
and  silence  the  skeptic. 

In  this  enlightened  age,  when  all  authority  is  challenged,  and  a  cen- 
tury after  the  moss  of  oblivion  has  covered  the  historic  grave  of  the 
doctrine  of  divine  right,  the  Japanese  still  cling  to  the  divinity  of  the 
Mikado,  not  only  making  it  the  dogma  of  religion  and  the  engine  of 
government,  but  accrediting  their  envoys  as  representatives  of,  and  ask- 
ing of  foreign  diplomatists  that  they  address  His  Imperial  Japanese 
Majesty  as  the  "Son  of  Heaven,"  A  nation  that  has  passed  through 
the  successive  stages  of  aboriginal  migration,  tribal  government,  con- 
quest by  invaders,  pure  monarchy,  feudalism,  anarchy,  and  modern  con- 
solidated empire,  should  have  secreted  the  material  for  much  interest- 
ing history. 

Historical  Lore  of  Japan. 

In  the  many  lulls  of  peace,  scholars  would  arise,  and  opportunities 
would  offer,  to  record  the  history  which  previous  generations  had  made. 
The  foreign  historian  who  will  bring  the  necessary  qualifications  to  the 
task  of  composing  a  complete  history  of  Japan,  i.  e.,  knowledge  of  the 
languages  and  literature  of  Japan,  China,  Korea,  and  the  dialects  of  the 
Malay  Archipelago,  Siberia,  and  the  other  islands  of  the  North  Pacific, 
historical  insight,  sympathy,  and  judicial  acumen,  has  before  him  a  vir- 
gin field. 

The  body  of  native  Japanese  historical  writings  is  rich  and  solid.  It 
is  the  largest  and  most  important  division  of  their  voluminous  literature. 
It  treats  very  fully  the  period  between  the  rise  of  the  noble  families 
from  about  the  ninth  century  until  the  present  time.  The  real  history 
of  the  period  prior  to  the  eighth  century  of  the  Christian  era  is  very 
meagre.  It  is  nearly  certain  that  the  Japanese  possessed  no  writing 
until  the  sixth  century  A.  D. 


22  THE   MIKADO. 

The  Earliest  Known  Writings. 

Their  oldest  extant  composition  is  the  Kojiki,  or  "Book  of  Ancient 
Traditions."  It  may  be  called  the  Bible  of  the  Japanese.  It  comprises 
three  volumes,  composed  A.  D.  711-712.  It  is  said  to  have  been  pre- 
ceded by  tw^o  similar  v^orks,  written  respectively  in  A.  D.  620  and  A.  D. 
681 ;  but  neither  of  these  has  been  preserved.  The  first  volume  treats 
of  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  earth ;  the  gods  and  goddesses,  called 
"kami;"  and  the  events  of  the  holy  ages,  or  mythological  period. 

The  second  and  third  give  the  history  of  the  mikados  from  the  year 
I  (660  B.  C.)  to  the  1288th  of  the  Japanese  era.  It  was  first  printed 
during  A.  D,  1624-1642.  The  Nihonki,  completed  A.  D.  720,  also  con- 
tains the  Japanese  cosmogony,  records  of  the  mythological  period,  and 
brings  down  the  annals  of  the  mikado  to  A.  D.  699.  These  are  the 
oldest  books  in  the  language.  Numerous  and  very  valuable  commen- 
taries upon  them  have  been  written.  They  contain  so  much  that  is  fabu- 
lous, mythical  or  exaggerated,  that  their  statements,  especially  in  respect 
of  dates,  cannot  be  accepted  as  true  history. 

According  to  the  Kojiki,  Jimmu  Tenno  was  the  first  emperor;  yet  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  whether  he  was  a  historical  personage.  The  best 
foreign  scholars  and  critics  regard  him  as  a  mythical  character.  The 
accounts  of  the  first  mikados  are  very  meagre.  The  accession  to  the 
throne,  marriage  and  death  of  the  sovereign,  with  notices  of  occasional 
rebellions  put  down,  tours  made,  and  worship  celebrated,  are  recorded, 
and  interesting  glimpses  of  the  progress  of  civilization  obtained. 

Living  Pictures  of  Ancient  History. 

A  number  of  works,  containing  what  is  evidently  good  history,  illus- 
trate the  period  between  the  eighth  and  eleventh  centuries.  A  still 
richer  collection  of  both  original  works  and  modern  compilations  treat 
of  the  mediaeval  period  from  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth  century — 
the  age  of  intestine  strife  and  civil  war.  The  light  which  the  stately 
prose  of  history  casts  upon  the  past  is  further  heightened  by  the  many 
poems,  popular  romances,  founded  on  historical  fact,  and  the  classic 


THE   MIKADO.  23 

-compositions  called  monogatari,  all  of  which  help  to  make  the  per- 
spective of  by-gone  centuries  melt  out  into  living  pictures. 

That  portion  of  the  history  which  treats  of  the  introduction,  prog- 
ress, and  expulsion  of  Christianity  in  Japan  has  most  interest  to  our- 
selves. Concerning  it  there  is  much  deficiency  of  material,  and  that  not 
of  a  kind  to  satisfy  occidental  tastes.  The  profound  peace  which  fol- 
lowed the  victories  of  lyeyasu,  and  which  lasted  from  1600-1868 — the 
scholastic  era  of  Japan — gave  the  peaceful  leisure  necessary  for  the 
study  of  ancient  history,  and  the  creation  of  a  large  library  of  historical 
literature,  of  which  the  magnificent  works  called  the  Dai  Nihon  Shi 
("History  of  Great  Japan"),  and  Nihon  Guai  Shi  ("Japanese  Outer,  or 
Military  History"),  are  the  best  examples. 

Censorship  of  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns. 

Under  the  Tokugawa  shoguns  (1603-1868)  liberty  to  explore,  chron- 
icle, and  analyze  the  past  in  history  was  given ;  but  the  seal  of  silence, 
the  ban  of  censorship,  and  the  mandate  forbidding  all  publication  were 
put  upon  the  production  of  contemporary  history.  Hence,  the  peace- 
ful period,  1600  to  1853,  is  less  known  than  others  in  earlier  times.  Sev- 
eral good  native  annalists  have  treated  of  the  post-Perry  period  (1853- 
1872),  and  the  events  leading  to  the  Restoration. 

In  the  department  of  unwritten  history,  such  as  unearthed  relics, 
coins,  weapons,  museums,  memorial  stones,  tablets,  temple  records,  etc., 
•there  is  much  valuable  material.  Scarcely  a  year  passes  but  some  rich 
trover  is  announced  to  delight  the  numerous  native  archaeologists. 

Records  Kept  by  Local  Antiquarians. 

The  Japanese  are  intensely  proud  of  their  history,  and  take  great 
care  in  making  and  preserving  records.  Memorial-stones,  keeping  green 
the  memory  of  some  noted  scholar,  ruler,  or  benefactor,  are  among 
the  most  striking  sights  on  the  highways,  or  in  the  towns,  villages,  or 
temple-yards,  betokening  the  desire  to  defy  the  ravages  of  oblivion  and 
resist  the  inevitable  tooth  of  Time. 

Almost  every  large  city  has  its  published  history;  towns  and  villages 
liave  their  annals  written  and  preserved  by  local  antiquarians;  family 


24  THE   MIKADO. 

records  are  faithfully  copied  from  generation  to  generation;  diaries, 
notes  of  journeys  or  events,  dates  of  the  erection  of  buildings,  the  names 
of  the  officiating  priests,  and  many  of  the  subscribing  worshipers,  are 
religiously  kept  in  most  of  the  large  Buddhist  temples  and  monasteries. 

The  priests  delight  to  write  of  the  lives  of  their  saintly  predecessor? 
and  the  mundane  affairs  of  their  patrons.  Almost  every  province  has 
its  encyclopedic  history,  and  every  high-road  its  itineraries  and  guide- 
books, in  which  famous  places  and  events  are  noted.  Almost  every 
neighborhood  boasts  its  "Old  Mortality,"  or  local  antiquary,  whose  de- 
light and  occupation  are  to  know  the  past.  In  the  large  cities  profes- 
sional story-tellers  and  readers  gain  a  lucrative  livelihood  by  narrating 
both  the  classic  history  and  the  legendary  lore. 

The  theater,  which  in  Japan  draws  its  subjects  for  representation 
almost  exclusively  from  the  actual  life,  past  or  present,  of  the  Japanese 
people,  is  often  the  most  faithful  mirror  of  actual  history.  Few  people 
seem  to  be  more  thoroughly  informed  as  to  their  own  history;  parents 
delight  to  instruct  their  children  in  their  national  lore;  and  there  are 
hundreds  of  child's  histories  of  Japan. 

Beautiful  but  Unreliable  Literature. 

Besides  the  sober  volumes  of  history,  the  number  of  books  purport- 
ing to  contain  the  truth,  but  which  are  worthless  for  purposes  of  his- 
torical investigation,  is  legion.  In  addition  to  the  motives,  equally 
operative  in  other  countries  for  the  corruption  or  distortion  of  historical 
narrative,  was  the  perpetual  desire  of  the  Buddhist  monks,  who  were 
in  many  cases  the  writers,  to  glorify  their  patrons  and  helpers,  and  to 
damn  their  enemies.  Hence  their  works  are  of  little  value.  So  plenti- 
ful are  these  garbled  productions,  that  the  buyer  of  books  always  asked 
for  "jitsu-roku,"  or  "true  records,"  in  order  to  avoid  the  "zu-zan,"  or 
"editions  of  Zu,"  so  called  from  Zu,  a  noted  Chinese  forger  of  history. 

Models  of  Elegant  Diction. 

The  vividness  and  pictorial  detail  of  the  classic  historians  fascinate 
the  reader  who  can  analyze  the  closely  massed  syntax.     Many  of  the 


THE   MIKADO.  25 

pages  of  the  Nihon  Guai  Shi,  especially,  are  models  of  compression  and 
elegance,  and  glow  with  the  chastened  eloquence  that  springs  from 
clear  discernment  and  conviction  of  truth,  gained  after  patient  sifting 
of  facts,  and  groping  through  difficulties  that  lead  to  discovery.  Many 
of  its  sentences  are  epigrams.  To  the  student  of  Japanese  it  is  a  narra- 
tive of  intensest  interest. 

The  Japanese  Book  of  Genesis. 

According  to  Japanese  mythology,  at  the  beginning  all  things  were 
in  chaos.  Heaven  and  earth  were  not  separated.  The  world  floated  in 
the  cosmic  mass,  like  a  fish  in  water,  or  the  yolk  in  an  egg.  The  ethereal 
matter  sublimed  and  formed  the  heavens,  the  residuum  became  the 
present  earth,  from  the  warm  mould  of  which  a  germ  sprouted  and  be- 
came a  self-animate  being,  called  "Kuni-toko-tachi  no  mikoto."  Two 
other  beings  of  like  genesis  appeared.  After  them  came  four  pairs  of 
beings  ("kami".)  These  were  all  single  ("hitori-gami,"  male,  sexless, 
or  self-begotten). 

The  First  Man  and  Woman. 

Proceeding  now  to  the  work  of  creation,  the  kami  separated  the  pri- 
mordial substance  into  the  five  elements — wood,  fire,  metal,  earth,  and 
water — and  ordained  to  each  its  properties  and  combination.  As  yet, 
the  division  into  sexes  had  not  taken  place.  In  (Chinese)  philosophical 
language,  the  male  ("y^")  and  female  ("in")  principles  that  pervade  all 
things  had  not  yet  appeared. 

The  first  manifestation  of  the  male  essence  was  "Izanagi";  of  the 
female,  "Izanami."  Standing  together  on  the  floating  bridge  of  heaven, 
the  male  plunged  his  jeweled  falchion,  or  spear,  into  the  unstable  waters 
beneath  them,  and  withdrawing  it  the  trickling  drops  formed  an  island, 
upon  which  they  descended.  The  creative  pair,  or  divine  man  and 
woman,  designing  to  make  this  island  a  pillar  for  a  continent,  separated 
— the  male  to  the  left,  the  female  to  the  right — to  make  a  journey  round 
the  island. 

At  their  meeting,  the  female  spirit  spoke  first,  "How  joyful  to  meet 


.26  THE   MIKADO. 

a  lovely  man !"  The  male  spirit,  offended  that  the  first  use  of  the  tongue 
had  been  by  a  woman,  required  the  circuit  to  be  repeated.  On  their 
second  meeting,  the  man  cried  out,  "How  joyful  to  meet  a  lovely 
woman!"  They  were  the  first  couple;  and  this  was  the  beginning  of 
the  art  of  love,  and  of  the  human  race.  The  island  ("Awaji"),  with 
seven  other  large,  and  many  thousand  small  ones,  became  the  Everlast- 
ing Great  Japan. 

The  First  Child  Becomes  a  Goddess. 

.  At  Izanami's  first  conception,  the  female  essence  "in"  being  more 
powerful,  a  female  child  was  born,  greatly  to  the  chagrin  of  the  father, 
who  wished  for  male  offspring.  The  child  was  named  "Ama-terasu  o 
mikami,"  or,  the  "Heaven-illuminating  Goddess."  She  shone  beauti- 
fully, and  lighted  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Her  father,  therefore, 
transferred  her  from  earth  to  heaven,  and  gave  her  the  ethereal  realm 
to  rule  over.  At  this  time  the  earth  was  close  to  heaven,  and  the  god- 
dess easily  mounted  the  pillar,  on  which  heaven  rested,  to  her  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM 

The  Fujiwara — The  Else  of  the  Shoguas — Influence  of  the  Military  Classes — Feudal  Eti- 
quette— ^Armor  and  Weapons  of  War — Suicide,  a  Principle  of  Honor — Social  Forms — 
The  Sword  a  Divine  Sjrmbol — The  Samurai. 

JAPAN,  of  all  the  Asiatic  nations,  seems  to  have  brought  the  feudal 
system  to  the  highest  state  of  perfection.  Originating  and  de- 
veloping at  the  same  time  as  in  Europe,  it  became  the  constitution  of 
the  nation  and  the  condition  of  society  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
When  in  Europe  the  nations  were  engaged  in  throwing  off  the  feudal' 
yoke  and  inaugurating  modern  government,  Japan  was  riveting  the  fet- 
ters of  feudalism,  which  stood  intact  until  1871.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  it  had  come  to  pass  that  there  were  virtually 
two  rulers  in  Japan,  and  as  foreigners  supposed,  two  emperors. 

Noble  Families  Who  Furnished  the  Sho-Guns. 

The  growth  of  feudalism  in  Japan  took  shape  and  form  from  the 
•early  division  of  the  officials  into  civil  and  military.  The  Fujiwara,  to 
whom  the  Emperor  Kuwammu  (A.  D.  782)  owed  his  elevation  to  the 
throne,  controlled  all  the  civil  offices,  and  at  first,  in  time  of  emergency, 
put  on  armor,  led  their  troops  to  battle,  and  bfaved  the  dangers  of  war 
and  the  discomforts  of  the  camp.  In  time,  however,  this  great  family, 
yielding  to  that  sloth  and  luxury  which  ever  seem,  like  an  insidious  dis- 
ease, to  ruin  greatness  in  Japan,  ceased  to  take  the  field  themselves, 
and  delegated  the  uncongenial  tasks  of  war  to  certain  members  of  par- 
ticular noble  families. 

Those  from  which  the  greatest  number  of  shoguns,  or  commanding 
generals,  were  appointed  were  the  Taira  and  INIinomoto,  that  for  sev- 
eral centuries  held  the  chief  military  appointments.    As  luxury,  corrupt 

27 


28  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

tion,  intrigue,  and  effeminacy  increased  at  the  capital,  the  difficulty  of 
keeping  the  remote  parts  of  the  empire  in  order  increased,  especially  in 
the  North  and  East.  The  war  department  became  disorganized,  and 
the  generals  at  Kioto  lost  their  ability  to  enforce  their  orders. 

Acquire  Knowledge  of  Intrigue  and  Politics. 

Many  of  the  peasants,  on  becoming  soldiers,  had,  on  account  of  their 
personal  valor  or  merit,  been  promoted  to  the  permanent  garrison  of 
household  troops.  Once  in  the  gay  capital,  they  learned  the  details  of 
intrigue  and  politics.  Some  were  made  court  pages,  or  attendants  on 
men  of  high  rank,  and  thus  learned  the  routine  of  official  duty.  They 
caught  the  tone  of  life  at  court,  where  every  man  was  striving  for  rank 
and  his  own  glory,  and  they  were  not  slow  to  imitate  their  august  ex- 
amples. 

Returning  to  their  homes  with  the  prestige  of  having  been  in  the 
capital,  they  intrigued  for  power  in  their  native  districts,  and  gradually 
obtained  rule  over  them,  neglecting  to  go  when  duty  called  them  to 
Kioto,  and  ignoring  the  orders  of  their  superiors  in  the  war  department. 
The  civil  engineers  of  the  provinces  dared  not  molest,  or  attempt  to 
bring  these  petty  tyrants  to  obedience.  Having  armor,  horses,  and 
weapons,  they  were  able  to  train  and  equip  their  dependents  and  ser- 
vants, and  thus  provide  themselves  with  an  armed  following. 

Professional  Fighters. 

Thus  was  formed  a  class  of  men  who  called  themselves  "warriors,** 
and  were  ever  ready  to  serve  a  great  leader  for  pay.  The  natural 
consequence  of  such  a  state  of  society  was  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
village  squabbles,  border  brawls,  and  the  levying  of  blackmail  upon 
defenseless  people,  culminating  in  the  insurrection  of  a  whole  province. 

The  disorder  often  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  it  was  necessary  for 
the  court  to  interfere,  and  an  expedition  was  sent  from  Kioto,  under 
the  command  of  a  Taira  or  Minamoto  leader.  The  shogun,  instead 
of  waiting  to  recruit  his  army  in  the  regular  manner — a  process  doubt-' 
ful  of  results  in  the  disorganized  state  of  the  war  department  and  of  the 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM.  29 

country  in  general,  had  immediate  recourse  to.  others  of  these  veteran 
warriors,  who  were  already  equipped,  and  eager  for  a  fray. 

The  Distribution  of  Military  Patronage. 

Frequent  repetition  of  the  experience  of  the  relation  of  brothers  in 
arms,  of  commander  and  commanded,  of  rewarder  and  rewarded,  grad- 
ually grew  into  that  of  lord  and  retainers.  Each  general  had  his  special 
favorites  and  followers,  and  the  professional  soldier  looked  upon  his 
commander  as  the  one  to  whom  his  allegiance  was  directly  due.  The 
distant  court  at  Kioto,  being  utterly  unable  to  enforce  its  authority, 
put  the  whole  power  of  quieting  the  disturbed  districts,  whenever  the 
disorder  increased  beyond  the  ability  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  repress 
it,  into  the  hands  of  the  Minamoto  and  Taira,  These  families  thus  be- 
came military  clans  and  acquired  enormous  influence,  enjoyed  the 
monopoly  of  military  patronage,  and  finally  became  the  virtual  rulers 
of  the  land. 

The  Power  of  the  Sword. 

The  power  of  the  sword  was,  as  early  as  the  twelfth  c«ntury,  lost  to 
the  court,  which  then  attempted,  by  every  means  in  its  power,  to  check 
the  rising  influence  of  the  military  families  and  classes.  They  began  by 
denying  them  high  rank,  thus  putting  them  under  social  ban.  They 
next  attempted  to  lay  an  interdict  upon  the  warriors  by  forbidding 
them  to  ally  themselves  with  either  the  Taira  or  the  Minamoto. 

This  availed  nothing,  for  the  warriors  knew  who  rewarded  them. 
They  then  endeavored,  with  poor  success,  to  use  one  family  as  a  check 
upon  the  other.  FinMly  when  the  Minamoto,  Yoriyoshi,  and  Yoshiiye 
conquered  all  the  north  of  Hondo,  and  kept  in  tranquillity  the  whole  of 
the  Kuanto  for  fifteen  years,  even  paying  governmental  expenses  from 
\heir  private  funds,  the  court  ignored  their  achievements. 

When  they  petitioned  for  rewards  to  be  bestowed  on  their  soldiers, 
the  dilatory  and  reluctant,  perhaps  jealous,  nobles  composing  the  court 
not  only  neglected  to  do  so,  but  left  them  without  the  imperial  com- 
mission, and  dishonored  their  achievements  by  speaking  of  them  as 
^'private   feuds."     Hence   they  took   the   responsibility,   and   conferred 


30  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

upon  their  soldiers  grants  of.  the  conquered  land  in  their  own  name. 
The  Taira  followed  the  same  policy  in  the  south  and  west. 

The  Court  Loses  Control  of  the  Provinces. 

When  Yoritomo  became  Sei-i  Tai  Shogun  at  Kamakura,  erected 
the  dual  system,  and  appointed  a  military  with  a  civil  governor  of  each 
province  in  the  interest  of  good  order,  feudalism  assumed  national  pro- 
portions. Such  a  distribution  soon  ceased  to  be  a  balance,  the  military 
pan  in  the  scale  gained  weight  and  the  civil  lost  until  it  kicked  the 
beam.  At  the  end  of  the  Hojo  domination,  the  court  had  lost  the  gov- 
ernment of  ^the  provinces,  and  the  "kuge"  (court  nobles)  had  been  de- 
spoiled and  impoverished  by  the  "buke"  (military).  So  thoroughly  had 
feudalism  become  the  national  policy  that  in  the  temporary  mikadoate,. 
1 534-1 536,  the  Emperor  Go-Daigo  rewarded  those  who  had  restored 
him  by  grants  of  land  for  them  to  rule  in  their  own  names  as  his  vassals. 

The  Law  of  Might. 

Under  the  Ashikagas  (fourteenth  century)  the  hold  of  even  the  cen- 
tral military  authority  was  lost,  and  the  empire  split  up  into  fragments. 
Historians  have  in  vain  attempted  to  construct  a  series  of  historical 
maps  of  this  period.  The  pastime  was  war — a  game  of  patchwork  in 
which  land  continually  changed  possessors.  There  was  no  one  great 
leader  of  sufficient  power  to  overawe  all;  hence  might  made  right;  and 
whoever  had  the  ability,  valor,  or  daring  to  make  himself  pre-eminent 
above  his  fellows,  and  seized  more  land,  his  power  would  last  until  he 
was  overcome  by  a  stronger,  or  his  family  decayed  through  the  effem- 
inacy of  his  descendants.  During  this  period,  the  great  clans  with  whose 
names  the  readers  of  the  works  of  the  Jesuits  and  Dutch  writers  are 
familiar,  or  which  have  been  most  prominent  since  the  opening  of  the 
empire,  took  their  rise.  They  were  those  of  Hosokawa  Uyesugi,  Satake, 
Takeda,  the  "later  Hojo  of  Odawara;"  Mori,  Otomo,  Shimadzu,  Riuzoji, 
Ota,  and  Tokugawa. 

Lords  and  Vassals. 

As  the  authority  of  the  court  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  the  allegiance 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM.  3t 

which  all  men  owed  the  mikado,  and  which  they  theoretically- 
acknowledged,  was  changed  into  loyalty  to  the  military  chief.  Every^ 
man  who  bore  arms  was  thus  attached  to  some  "daimio"  (great  name) 
or  territorial  noble,  and  became  a  vassal  ("kerai").  The  agricultural, 
and  gradually  the  other  classes,  also  put  themselves,  or  were  forcibly 
included,  under  the  protection  of  some  castle  lord  or  nobleman  having 
an  armed  following. 

The  taxes,  instead  of  being  collected  for  the  central  government, 
flowed  into  the  treasury  of  the  local  rulers.  This  left  the  mikado  and 
court  without  revenue.  The  "kuge,"  or  Kioto  nobles,  were  thus  stripped 
of  wealth,  until  their  poverty  became  the  theme  for  the  caricaturist. 
Nevertheless,  the  eye  of  their  pride  never  dimmed.  In  their  veins,  they^ 
knew,  ran  the  blood  of  the  gods,  while  the  daimios  were  only  "earth- 
thieves,"  and  the  parvenus  of  feudalism.  They  all  cherished  their  empty 
titles;  and  to  all  students  of  history  their  poverty  was  more  honorable 
than  all  the  glitter  of  the  shogun's  train,  or  the  splendors  of  the  richest 
daimio's  mansion. 

The  daimios  spent  their  revenues  on  their  retainers,  their  personal 
pleasures,  and  in  building  castles.  In  almost  every  feudal  city,  or  place 
of  strategic  importance,  the  towers,  walls,  and  moats  of  these  character- 
istic specimens  of  Japanes'e  architecture  could  be  seen.  The  strictest 
vigilance  was  maintained  at  the  castle-gates,  and  a  retainer  of  another 
daimio,  however  hospitably  entertained  elsewhere,  was  never  allowed 
entrance  into  the  citadel.  A  minute  code  of  honor,  a  rude  sort  of  chi- 
valry, and  an  exalted  sense  of  royalty  were  the  growth  of  the  feudal  sys- 
tem. 

The  Custom  of  Shaving  the  Head. 

Many  of  the  mediaeval  military  customs  were  very  interesting.  Dur- 
ing this  period  the  habit  originated  of  the  men  shaving  the  hair  off  their 
temples  and  from  the  middle  of  the  scalp,  and  binding  the  long  cue  into 
a  top-knot,  which  was  thus  turned  forward  and  laid  on  the  scalp.  The 
object*vof  this  was  to  keep  the  hair  out  of  the  eyes  during  battle,  and 
also  to  mark  the  wearer  as  a  warrior.  Gradually  it  became  a  universal 
custom,  extending  to  all  classes. 


32  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

When,  in  1873,  the  reformers  persuaded  the  people  to  cut  off  their 
knots  and  let  their  hair  grow,  the  latter  refused  to  "imitate  the  foreign- 
ers," and  supposed  they  were  true  conservatives,  when,  in  reality,  the 
ancient  Japanese  knew  nothing  of  shaven  faces  and  scalps,  or  of  top- 
knots. The  ancient  warriors  wore  mustaches,  and  eve»  beards.  The 
practice  of  keeping  the  face  scrupulously  bare,  until  recently  so  univer- 
sally observed  except  by  botanists  and  doctors,  is  comparatively  modern. 

Military  Tactics  Copied  from  the  Chinese. 

The  military  tactics  and  strategic  arts  of  the  Japanese  were  anciently 
copied  from  the  Chinese,  but  were  afterward  modified  as  the  nature  of 
the  physical  features  of  their  country  and  the  institutions  of  feudalism 
required.  No  less  than  seven  distinct  systems  were  at  different  times 
in  vogue;  but  that  perfected  by  Takeda  and  Uyesugi,  in  the  Ashikaga 
period,  finally  bore  off  the  palm.  These  tactics  continued  to  command 
the  esteem  and  practice  of  the  Japanese  until  the  revolution  wrought 
by  the  adoption  of  the  European  systems  in  the  present  century.  The 
surface  of  the  country  being  so  largely  mountainous,  uneven,  and  cov- 
ered with  rice-swamps,  cavalry  were  but  little  employed.  A  volley  of 
arrows  usually  opened  the  battle,  followed  by  a  general  engagement 
along  the'  whole  line. 

Foot  to  Foot  and  Knee  to  Knee. 

Single  combats  between  commanders  of  hostile  armies  were  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  When  they  met  on  the  field,  their  retainers,  accord- 
ing to  the  strict  etiquette  of  war,  gave  no  aid  to  either,  but  encouraged 
them  by  shouts,  as  they  called  out  each  other's  names  and  rushed  to 
the  combat.  The  battle  slackened,  while  the  leaders  strove,  the  armies 
becoming  spectators. 

The  victor  cut  off  the  head  of  his  antagonist,  and,  holding  it  up, 
shouted  his  name  and  claimed  the  victory.  The  triumph  or  defeat  of 
their  leaders  often  decided  the  fate  of  the  army.  Vengeance  against 
the  victor  was  not  permitted  to  be  taken  at  the  time,  but  must  be  sought 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM,  33 

again,  the  two  armies  again  joining  battle.  The  fighting  over,  those  who 
had  slain  distinguished  personages,  must  exhibit  their  heads  before 
their  chiefs,  who  bestowed  rewards  upon  them. 

This  practice  still  continues;  and  during  the  expedition  in  Formosa 
m  1874,  the  chief  trophies  were  the  heads  of  the  Boutan  cannibals, 
though  the  commander.  General  Saigo,  attempted  to  abolish  the  custom. 
Whoever  saved  his  chieftain's  life  on  the  field  was  honored  with  the 
place  of  highest  rank  in  the  clan.  These  customs  had  a  tremendous  in- 
fluence in  cultivating  valor  and  a  spirit  of  loyalty  in  the  retainer  toward 
the  prince.  The  meanest  soldier,  if  brave  and  faithful,  might  rise  to 
the  highest  place  of  honor,  rank,  emolument,  and  influence.  The  be- 
stowal of  a  reward,  the  investiture  of  a  command,  in  military  promotion, 
was  ever  an  occasion  of  impressive  ceremony. 

The  Samurai  in  Times  of  Peace. 

Even  in  time  of  peace  the  "samurai,"  ar  military  nobles,  never  ap- 
peared out  of  doors  unarmed,  invariably  wearing  their  two  swords  in 
their  girdle.  The  offensive  weapons — spears  long  and  short,  the  bows, 
arrows,  and  quiver,  and  battle-axes — were  set  on  their  butts  on  the  porch 
or  restibule  in  front  of  the  house.  Within  doors,  in  the  "tokonoma,"  or 
recess,  were  ranged  in  glitteririg  state  the  cuirass,  helmet,  greaves, 
gauntlets,  and  chain-mail.  Over  the  sliding  partitions,  on  racks,  were 
the  long  halberds,  which  the  women  of  the  house  were  trained  to  use 
in  case  of  attack  during  the  absence  of  the  men. 

The  gate  of  the  house  was  permanently  guarded  by  armed  retainers, 
who  occupied  the  porter's  lodge  beside  it.  Standing  upright  and  ready 
were  three  long  instrumeats,  designed  to  entangle,  throw  down,  and 
pin  to  the  earth  a  quarrelsome  applicant.  Familiar  faces  passed  un- 
challenged, but  armed  strangers  were  held  at  bay  till  their  business 
was  known.  A  grappling-iron,  with  barbed  tongues  turned  in  every 
direction,  making  a  ball  of  hooks  like  an  irom  hedgehog,  mounted  on  a 
pike-staff  ten  feet  long,  thrust  into  the  Japanese  loose  clothing,  sufficed 
to  keep  at  a  v^holescKmie  length  any  swash-buckler  whose  sword  left  its 
sheath  too  easilv. 


34  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

Peculiar  Weapons  of  Offense  and  Defense. 

Another  spiked  weapon,  like  a  double  rake,  could  be  thrust  between 
his  legs  and  bring  him  to  the  earth.  A  third,  shaped  like  a  pitchfork, 
could  hold  him  helpless  under  its  wicket  arch.  Three  heavy  quarter 
staves  were  also  ready  to  belabor  the  struggling  wight  who  would  not 
yield,  while  swords  on  the  racks  hung  ready  for  the  last  resort,  or  when 
intruders  came  in  numbers.  On  rows  of  pegs  hung  wooden  tickets 
about  three  inches  square,  branded  or  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the 
retainers  and  servants  of  the  lord's  house,  which  were  handed  to  the 
keeper  of  the  gate  as  they  passed  in  or  out. 

The  soldiers  wore  armor  made  of  thin  scales  of  iron,  steel,  hardened 
hide,  lacquered  paper,  brass,  or  shark-skin,  chain-mail,  and  shields.  The 
helmet  was  of  iron,  very  strong,  and  lined  within  by  buckskin.  Its  flap 
of  articulated  iron  rings  drooped  well  around  the  shoulders.  The  visor 
was  of  thin  lacquered  iron,  the  nose  and  mouth  pieces  being  removable. 
The  eyes  were  partially  protected  by  the  projecting  front-piece.  A 
false  mustache  was  supposed  to  make  the  upper  lip  of  the  warrior -dread- 
ful to  behold. 

Armor  Worn  by  a  Noble. 

On  the  frontlet  were  the  distinguishing  symbols  of  the  man,  a  pair 
of  horns,  a  iish,  an  eagle,  dragon,  buckhorns,  or  flashing  brass  plates 
of  various  designs.  Some  of  the  helmets  were  very  tall.  Kato  Kiyo- 
masa's  was  three  feet  high.  On  the  top  was  a  hole,  in  which  a  pennant 
was  thrust,  or  an  ornament  shaped  like  a  pear  inserted.  The  "pear- 
splitter'-'  was  the  fatal  stroke  in  combat  and  the  prize-cut  in  fencing. 
Behind  the  corselet  on  the  back  was  another  socket,  in  which  the  clan- 
flag  was  inserted.  The  breastplate  was  heavy  and  tough ;  the  arms, 
legs,  abdomen,  and  thighs  were  protected  by  plates  joined  by  woven 
chains. 

Shields  were  often  used;  and  for  forlorn  hopes  or  assaults,  cavalry- 
men made  use  of  a  stuffed  bag  resembling  a  bolster,  to  receive  a  volley 
of  arrows.  Besides  being  missile-proof,  it  held  the  arrows  as  spoils. 
On  the   shoulders,   hanging  loosely,   were   unusually  wide   and   heavy 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM.  35 

brassarts,  designed  to  deaden  the  force  of  the  two-handed  sword-stroke. 
Greaves  and  sandals  completed  the  suit,  which  was  laced  and  bound 
with  iron  clamps,  and  cords  of  buckskin  and  silk,  and  decorated  with 
crests,  gilt  tassels,  and  glittering  insignia.  Suits  of  armor  were  black, 
white,  purple,  crimson,  violet,  green,  golden  or  silver. 

Details  of  Army  Life. 

The  rations  of  the  soldiers  were  rice,  fish  and  vegetables.  Instead 
of  tents,  huts  of  straw  or  boughs  were  easily  erected  to  form  a  camp. 
The  general's  headquarters  were  enclosed  by  canvas,  stretched  on  posts 
six  feet  high,  on  which  his  armorial  bearings  were  wrought.  The 
weapons  were  bows  and  arrows,  spear,  sword,  and,  rarely,  battle-axes 
and  bow-guns ;  for  sieges,  fire-arrows. 

The  general's  scabbard  was  of  tiger-skin.  Supplies  of  this  material 
were  obtained  from  Korea,  where  the  animal  abounds.  His  baton  was 
a  small  lacquered  wand,  with  a  cluster  of  strips  of  thick  white  paper 
dependent  from  the  point.  Flags,  banners,  and  streamers  were  freely 
used ;  and  a  camp,  castle,  or  moving  army,  in  time  of  war,  with  its  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  flags,  presented  a  gay  and  lively  appearance. 
Drums,  hard-wood  clappers,  and  conch-shells  sounded  the  reveille,  the 
alarm,  the  onset,  or  the  retreat. 

How  a  Battle  Was  Fought. 

Owing  to  the  nature  of  the  ground,  consisting  chiefly  of  mountains 
and  valleys,  or  plains  covered  with  rice-swamps  intersected  by  narrow 
paths,  infantry  were  usually  depended  upon.  In  besieging  a  castle,  the 
intrenchments  of  the  investing  army  consisted  chiefly  of  a  line  of  pali- 
sades or  heavy  planks,  propped  up  from  within  h-^  hinged  supports,  at 
an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  behind  which  the  besiegers  fought  or 
liveVl  in  camp  life,  while  sentinels  paced  at  the  gates.  Lookouts  were 
posted  on  overlooking  hills,  in  trees,  or  in  towers  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

Sometimes  huge  kites  able  to  sustain  a  man  were  flown,  and  a  birdV 
eye  view  of  the  interior  of  the  enemy's  castle   thus  obtained.     Fire; 


36  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

treachery,  strategem,  starvation,  or  shooting  at  long  range  having  failed 
to  compel  surrender,  an  assault  took  place,  in  which  the  gates  were 
smashed  in  or  the  walls  scaled.  Usually  great  loss  resulted  before  the 
besiegers  were  driven  off,  or  were  victorious. 

Rough  surgery  awaited  the  wounded.  An  arrow-barb  was  usually 
pulled  out  by  a  jerk  of  the  pincers.  A  sabre-cut  was  sewed  or  bound 
together  with  tough  paper,  of  which  every  soldier  carried  a  supply.  The 
wonderfully  adhesive,  absorptive,  and  healing  power  of  the  soft,  tough, 
«[uickly  wet,  easily  hardening,  or  easily  kept  pliable,  Japanese  paper 
made  excellent  plasters,  bandages,  tourniquets,  cords,  and  towels.  In 
the  dressing  of  wounds,  the  native  doctors  to  this  day  excel. 

Origin  of  Hara-Kiri. 

"Seppuku"  (belly-cut)  or  "hara-kiri"  also  came  into  vogue  about  the 
time  of  the  beginning  of  the  domination  of  the  military  classes.  At 
first,  after  a  battle,  the  wounded  fell  on  their  swords,  drove  them 
through  their  mouthi  or  breast,  or  cut  their  throats.  -  Often  a  famous 
soldier,  before  dying,  would  flay  and  score  his  own  face  beyond  recog- 
nition so  that  his  enemies  might  not  glory  over  him. 

This  grew  into  a  principle  of  honor;  and  frequently  the  unscathed 
survivors,  defeated,  and  feeling  the  cause  hopeless,  or  retainers  whose 
master  was  slain,  committed  suicide.  Hence  arose,  in  the  Ashikaga 
period,  the  fashion  of  wearing  two  swords ;  one  of  which,  the  longer, 
was  for  enemies;  the  other,  shorter,  for  the  wearer's  own  body.  The 
practice  of  hara-kiri  as  a  judicial  sentence  and  punishment  did  not  come 
into  vogue  until  in  tiie  time  of  the  Tokugawas. 

The  Use  of  the  Ko-Katana. 

Thrust  into  a  tiny  scabbard  at  the  side  of  the  dirk,  or  small  sword, 
was  a  pair  of  chopsticks  to  eat  with  in  camp.  Anciently  these  were 
skewers,  to  thrust  through  the  top-knot  of  a  decapitated  enemy,  that 
the  head  might  be  easily  carried.  Besides,  or  in  lieu  of  them,  was  a 
small  miniature  sword,  "ko-katana**  (little  sword),  or  long,  narrow 
knife.  Although  this  was  put  to  various  trivial  uses,  such  as  those  for 
which  we  employ  a  penknife,  yet  its  primary  purpose  was  that  of  the 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM,  3j^ 

card  of  the  owner.    Each  sword  was  adorned  with  some  symbol  or  cfest^ 
which  served  to  mark  the  clan,  family,  or  person  of  the  owner. 

The  Satsiima  men  wore  swords  with  red-lacquered  scabbards.  Later, 
the  Tokugawa  vassals,  who  fought  in  the  battle  of  Sekigahara,  were 
called  "white  hilts,"  because  they  wore  swords  of  extraordinary  length, 
with  white  hilts.  The  bat,  the  falcon,  the  dragon,  lion,  tiger,  owl,  and 
hawk  were  among  the  most  common  designs  wrought  in  gold,  lacquer, 
carving,  or  alloy  on  the  hilts,  handles,  or  scabbard;  and  on  the  ko-katana 
was  engraved  the  name  of  the  owner. 

The  Vendetta. 

Feudalism  was  the  m.other  of  brawls  innumerable,  and  feuds  between 
families  and  clans  continually  existed.  The  wife  whose  husband  was 
slain  by  the  grudge-bearer  brought  up  her  sons  religiously  to  avenge 
their  father's  death.  The  vendetta  was  unhindered  by  law  and  applauded 
by  society.  The  moment  of  revenge  selected  was  usually  that  of  the 
victim's  proudest  triumph.  After  promotion  to  ofiflce,  succession  to 
patrimony,  or  at  his  marriage  ceremony,  the  sword  of  the  avenger  did 
its  bloody  work. 

Many  a  bride  found  herself  a  widow  on  her  wedding-night.  Many 
a  child  became  an  orphan  in  the  hour  of  the  father's  acme  of  honor. 
When  the  murder  was  secret,  at  night,  or  on  the  wayside,  the  head  was 
cut  off,  and  the  avenger,  plucking  out  his  ko-katana,  thrust  it  in  the  ear 
of  the  victim,  and  let  it  lie  on  the  public  highway,  or  sent  it  to  be  de- 
posited before  the  gate  of  the  house.  The  ko-katana,  with  the  name  en- 
graved on  it,  told  the  whole  story. 

Whenever  the  lord  of  a  clan  wished  his  rival  or  enemy  out  of  the 
way,  he  gave  the  order  of  Herodias  to  her  daughter  to  his  faithful  re- 
tainers, and  usually  the  head  in  due  time  was  brought  before  him,  as 
was  John's,  on  a  charger  or  ceremonial  stand- 
Etiquette  of  the  Sword. 

The  most  minutely  detailed  etiquette  presided  over  the  sword,  the 
badge  of  the  gentleman.  The  visitor  whose  means  allowed  him  to  be 
accompanied  by  a  servant  always  left  his  long  sword  in  his  charge  when 


38  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

entering  a  friend's  house;  the  salutation  being  repeated  bowing  of  the 
forehead  to  the  floor  while  on  the  hands  and  knees,  the  breath  being 
sucked  in  at  the  same  time  with  an  impressive  sound.  The  degree  of 
obeisance  was  accurately  graded  according  to  rank.  If  alone,  the  visitor 
laid  his  sword  on  the  floor  of  the  vestibule.  The  host's  servants,  if  so 
instructed  by  their  master,  then,  with  a  silk  napkin  in  hand,  removed 
it  inside  and  placed  it,  with  all  honor,  on  the  sword-rack. 

At  meetings  betv/een  those  less  familiar,  the  sheathed  weapon  was 
withdrawn  from  the  girdle  and  laid  on  the  floor  to  the  right,  an  indica- 
tion of  friendship,  since  it  could  not  be  drawn  easily.  Under  suspicious 
circumstances,  it  was  laid  to  the  left,  so  as  to  be  at  hand.  On  short 
visits,  the  dirk  was  retained  in  the  girdle;  on  festal  occasions,  or  pro- 
longed visits,  it  was  withdrawn.  To  clash  the  sheath  of  one's  sword 
against  that  of  another  was  a  breach  of  etiquette  that  often  resulted  in 
instantaneous  and  bloody  reprisal. 

To  turn  the  sheath  in  the  belt  as  if  about  to  draw  was  tantamount 
to  a  challenge.  To  lay  one's  weapon  on  the  floor  of  a  room,  and  kick 
the  guard  toward  a  person,  was  an  insult  that  generally  resulted  in  a 
combat  to  the  death.  Even  to  touch  another's  weapon  in  any  way  was  a 
grave  offense.  No  weapon  was  ever  exhibited  naked  for  any  purpose, 
unless  the  wearer  first  profusely  begged  pardon  of  those  present.  A 
wish  to  see  a  sword  was  seldom  made,  unless  the  blade  was  a  rare  one. 
The  owner  then  held  the  back  of  the  sword  to  the  spectator,  with  the 
edge  toward  himself,  and  the  hilt,  wrapped  in  the  little  silk  napkin> 
which  gentlemen  always  carry  in  their  pocketbooks,  or  a  piece  of  white 
paper,  to  the  left. 

The  blade  was  then  withdrawn  from  the  scabbard,  and  admired  inch 
by  inch,  but  never  entirely  withdrawn  unless  the  owner  pressed  his 
guest  to  do  so,  when,  with  much  apology,  the  sword  was  entirely  with- 
drawn and  held  away  from  those  present.  Many  a  gentleman  took  a 
pride  in  making  collections  of  swords,  and  the  men  of  every  samurai 
family  wore  weapons  that  were  heirlooms,  often  centuries  old^  Women 
wore  short  swords  when  traveling,  and  the  palace  ladies  in  time  of  fires. 
armed  themselves. 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM.  39 

The  Land  of  Many  Blades. 

In  no  country  has  the  sword  been  made  an  object  of  such  honor  as  in 
Japan.  It  is  at  once  a  divine  symbol,  a  knightly  weapon,  and  a  certifi- 
cate of  noble  birth.  "The  girded  sword  is  the  soul  of  the  samurai."  It 
is  **the  precious  possession  of  lord  and  vassal  from  times  older  than  the 
divine  period."  Japan  is  "the  land  of  many  blades."  The  gods  wore 
and  wielded  two-edged  swords.  From  the  tail  of  the  dragon  was  born 
the  sword  which  the  Sun-goddess  gave  to  the  first  emperor  of  Japan. 
By  the  sword  of  the  clustering  clouds  of  heaven  Yamato-Dake  subdued 
the  East.    By  the  sword  the  mortal  heroes  of  Japan  won  their  fame. 

"There's  naught  'twixt  heaven  and  earth  that  man  need  fear,  who 
carries  at  his  belt  this  single  blade."  "One's  fate  is  in  the  hands  of 
Heaven,  but  a  skillful  fighter  does  not  meet  with  death."  "In  the  last 
days,  one's  sword  becomes  the  wealth  of  one's  posterity."  These  are, 
the  mottoes  graven  on  Japanese  swords. 

Forging  a  Sword. 

Names  of  famous  swords  belonging  to  the  Taira,  Minamoto,  and 
other  families  are,  "Little  Crow,"  "Beard-cutter,"  "Knee-divider."  The 
two  latter,  when  tried  on  sentenced  criminals,  after  severing  the  heads 
from  the  body,  cut  the  beard,  and  divided  the  knee  respectively.  The 
forging  of  a  sword  occupied  the  smith  sixty  days,  and  was  often  a  re- 
ligious ceremony.  No  artisans  were  held  in  greater  honor  than  the 
sword-makers,  and  some  of  them  even  rose  to  honorary  rank. 

The  names  of  Munechicka,  Masamune,  Yoshimitsu,  and  Muramasa, 
a  few  out  of  many  noted  smiths,  are  familiar  words  in  the  mouths  of 
even  Japanese  children.  The  names,  or  marks  and  dates,  of  famous 
makers  were  always  attached  to  their  blades,  and  from  the  ninth  to  the 
fifteenth  century  were  sure  to  be  genuine.  In  later  times,  the  practice 
of  counterfeiting  the  marks  of  well-known  makers  came  into  vogue. 
Certain  swords  considered  of  good  omen  in  one  family  were  deemed 
unlucky  in  others.  The  ordinary  length  of  a  sword  was  a  fraction  over 
two  feet  for  the  long  and  one  foot  for  the  short  sword.     All  lengths 


40  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

were,  however,  made  use  of,  and  some  of  tli«  (Ad  warriors  on  horseback 
wore  swords  over  six  feet  long. 

Elaborate  Workmanship. 

The  Japanese  sword-blade  averages  about  an  inch  in  width,  about 
seven-eighths  of  which  is  a  backing  of  iron,  to  which  a  face  of  steel  is 
forged  along  its  entire  length.  The  back,  about  one-fourth  of  an  incli 
thick,  bevels  out  very  slightly  to  near  th«  center  of  the  blade,  which 
then  narrows  to  a  razor  edge.  The  steel  and  the  forging  line  are  easily- 
distinguished  by  a  cloudiness  on  the  mirror-like  polish  of  the  metal.  An 
inch  and  a  quarter  from  the  point,  the  width  of  the  blade  having  been 
decreased  one-fourth,  the  edge  is  ground  ofl  to  a  semi-parabola,  meet- 
ing the  back, » which  is  prolonged,  untouched;  the  curve  of  the  whole 
blade,  from  a  straight  line,  being  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch. 

The  guard  is  often  a  piece  of  elaborate  workmanship  in  metal,  repre- 
senting a  landscape,  water-scene,  or  various  emblems.  The  hilt  is  formed 
by  covering  the  prolonged  iron  handle  by  shark-skin  and  wrapping  this 
with  twisted  silk.  The  ferrule,  washers,  and  cleats  are  usually  inlaid, 
embossed,  or  chased  in  gold,  silver,  or  alloy.  The  rivets  in  the  center 
of  the  handle  are  concealed  by  designs,  often  of  solid  gold,  such  as  the 
lion,  dragon,  cock,  etc. 

The  Emblem  of  Social  Rank. 

In  full  dress,  the  color  of  the  scabbard  was  black,  with  a  tinge  of 
green  or  red  in  it,  and  the  bindings  of  the  hilt  of  blue  silk.  The  taste 
of  the  wearer  was  often  displayed  in  the  color,  size  or  method  of  wear- 
ing his  sword,  gay  or  proud  fellows  affecting  startling  colors  or  extrava- 
gant length.  Riven  through  ornamental  ferrules  at  the  side  of  the  scab- 
bards were  long,  flat  cords  of  woven  silk  of  various  tints,  which  were 
used  to  tie  up  the  flowing  sleeves,  preparatory  to  fighting.  Every  part 
of  a  sword  was  richly  inlaid,  or  expensively  finished.  Daimios  often 
spent  extravagant  sums  on  a  single  blade,  and  small  fortunes  on  a  col- 
lection. 

A  samurai,  however  poor,  would  have  a  blade  of  sure  temper  and 
rich  mountings,  deeming  it  honorable  to  suffer  for  food,  that  he  might 


GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM.  41 

have  a  worthy  eniblctn  of  his  social  rank.  A  description  of  the  various 
styles  of  blade  and  scabbard,  lacquer,  ornaments,  and  the  rich  vocabulary 
of  terms  minutely  detailing  each  piece  entering  into  the  construction 
of  a  Japanese  sword,  the  etiquette  to  be  observed,  the  names,  mottoes 
and  legends  relating  to  them,  would  fill  a  large  volume  closely  printed.  A 
considerable  portion  of  native  literature  is  devoted  to  this  one  subject. 

Japanese  Bow  and  Arrows. 

The  bow  and  arrows  were  the  chief  weapons  for  siege  and  long- 
range  operations.  A  Japanese  bow  has  a  peculiar  shape.  It  was  made 
of  well-selected  oak  ("kashi"),  incased  on  both  sides  with  a  semi-cylin- 
der of  split  bamboo  toughened  by  fire.  The  three  pieces  composing  the 
bow  were  then  bound  firmly  into  one  piece  by  thin  withes  of  rattan, 
making  an  excellent  combination  of  lightness,  strength,  and  elasticity. 
The-  string  was  of  hemp.  Arrows  were  of  various  kinds  and  lengths, 
according  to  the  arms  of  the  arches.  The  average  length  of  the  war- 
arrow  was  three  feet. 

The  "turnip-head,"  "frog-crotch,"  "willow-leaf,"  "armor-piercer," 
"bowel-raker,"  were  a  few  of  the  various  names  for  arrows.  The  "tur- 
nip-top," so  named  from  its  shape,  made  a  singing  noise  as  it  flew.  The 
"frog-crotch,"  shaped  like  a  pitchfork,  or  the  hind  legs  of  a  leaping 
frog,  with  edged  blades,  was  used  to  cut  down  flags  or  helmet  lacings. 
The  "willow-leaf"  was  a  two-edged,  unbarbed  head,  shaped  like  the  leaf 
of  a  willow.  The  "bowel-raker"  was  of  a  frightful  shape,  well  worthy 
of  the  name;  and  the  victim  whose  diaphragm  it  penetrated  was  not 
likely  to  stir  about  afterward.  The  "armor-piercer"  was  a  plain  bolt- 
head,  with  nearly  blunt  point,  well  calculated  to  punch  ihrough  a  breast- 
plate. 

Barbs  of  steel  were  of  various  shape;  sometimes  very  heavy,  and 
often  handsomely  open-worked.  The  shaft  was  of  cane  bamboo,  with 
string-piece  of  bone  or  horn,  whipped  on  with  silk.  Quivers  were  of 
leather,  water-proof  paper,  or  thin  lacquered  wood,  and  often  splendidly 
adorned.  Gold-inlaid  weapons  were  common  among  the  rich  soldiers, 
and  the  outfit  of  an  officer  often  cost  many  hundreds  of  dollars. 


42  GROWTH  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  FEUDALISM. 

Old  Tools  of  War  as  S5niibols  of  Peace. 

Not  a  few  of  these  old  tools  of  war  have  lost  their  significance,  and 
have  become  household  adornments,  objects  of  art,  or  symbols  of  peace. 
Such  especially  are  the  emblems  of  the  carpenters'  guild,  which  consist 
of  the  half-feathered  "turnip-head"  arrow,  wreathed  with  leaves  of  the 
same  succulent,  and  the  "frog-crotch,"  inserted  in  the  mouth  of  a  dragon, 
crossed  upon  the  ancient  mallet  of  the  craft.  These  adorn  temples  or 
houses,  or  are  carried  in  the  local  parades  or  festivals. 

As  Buddhism  had  become  the  professed  religion  of  the  entire  nation, 
the  vast  majority  of  the  military  men  were  Buddhists.  Each  had  his 
patron  or  deity.  The  soldier  went  into  battle  with  an  image  of  Buddha 
sewed  in  his  helmet,  and  after  victory  ascribed  glory  to  his  divine  de- 
liverer. Many  temples  in  Japan  are  the  standing  monuments  of  triumph 
in  battle,  or  vows  performed.  Many  of  the  noted  captains,  notably  Kato, 
inscribed  their  banners  with  texts  from  the  classics  or  the  prayers, 
"Namu  Amida  Butsu,"  or  "Namu  mio  ho,"  etc.,  according  to  their  sect. 

Amulets  and  Charms. 

Amulets  and  charms  were  worn  almost  without  exception,  and  many 
a  tale  is  told  of  arrows  turned  aside,  or  swords  broken,  that  struck  on 
a  sacred  image,  picture,  or  text.  Before  entering  a  battle,  or  perform- 
ing a  special  feat  of  skill  or  valor,  the  hero  uttered  the  warrior's  prayer, 
"Namu  Hachiman  Dai-bosatsu"  ("Glory  to  Hachiman,  the  incarnation 
of  Great  Buddha").  Though  brave  heroes  must,  like  ordinary  men,  pass 
through  purgatory,  yet  death  on  the  batle-field  was  reckoned  highly 
meritorious,  and  the  happiness  of  the  warrior's  soul  in  the  next  world 
was  secured  by  the  prayers  of  his  wife  and  children. 


CHAPTER  III. 
LIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

irictories  of  Peace — The  Primal  Japanese  Type — Religious  Institutions — Images,  Idols 
and  Bells — Influence  of  the  Priests — Mediaeval  Science,  Art  and  Literature — ^Pro- 
vincial  Barriers — Medicine   and   Surgery — Court   Life — Evolution   of   the   Language. 

HISTORY,  as  usually  written,  gives  the  impression  that  the  normal 
condition  of  mankind  is  that  of  war.  Japanese  students  who 
take  up  the  history  of  England  to  read,  lay  it  down  convinced  that  the 
English  people  are  a  blood-loving  race  that  are  perpetually  fighting. 
They  contrast  their  own  peaceful  country  with  the  countries  of  Europe, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  latter.  They  turn  most  gladly  from  the  monoto- 
nous story  of  battle,  murder,  and  sieges,  to  Buckle,  Guizot,  or  Lecky,  that 
they  may  learn  of  the  victories  no  less  renowned  than  those  of  war 
which  mark  as  mile-stones  the  progress  of  the  race. 

A  Period  of  Peace. 

Permanent,  universal  peace  was  unknown  in  Japan  until,  by  the 
genius  of  lyeyasu  in  the  sixteenth  century,  two  centuries  and  a  half 
of  this  blessing  were  secured.  Nevertheless,  in  the  eight  centuries  in- 
cluded between  the  eighth  and  the  sixteenth  of  our  era  were  many,  and 
often  lengthened,  intervals  of  peace. 

In  many  sequestered  places  the  sandal  of  the  warrior  and  the  hoof 
of  the  war-horse  never  printed  the  soil.  Peace  in  the  palace,  in  the  city, 
in  the  village,  allowed  the  development  of  manners,  arts,  manufactures, 
and  agriculture.  In  this  period  were  developed  the  characteristic 
growths  of  the  Japanese  intellect,  imagination,  social  economy,  and 
manual  skill  that  have  made  the  hermit  nation  unique  in  the  earth  and 
Japanese  art  productions  the  wonder  of  the  world. 

43 


44  LIFE   IN   THE    MIDDLE   AGES. 

The  Chinese  Infkience. 

The  introduction  of  continental  or  Chinese  civilization  into  Japan 
was  not  a  simple  act  of  adoption.  It  was  rather  a  work  of  selection  and 
assimilation.  As  in  this  twentieth  century,  the  Japanese  is  no  blind 
copyist,  he  improves  on  what  he  borrows.  Although  the  traveler  from 
China  entering  Japan  can  see  in  a  moment  whence  the  Japanese  have 
borrowed  their  civilization,  and  though  he  may  believe  the  Japanese  to 
be  an  inferior  -type  to  the  Chinese,  he  will  acknowledge  that  the  Japanese 
have  improved  upon  their  borrowed  elements  fully  as  much  as  the 
French  have  improved  upon  those  of  Roman  civilization. 

Many  reflecting  foreigners  in  Japan  have  asked  the  question  why 
the  Japanese  are  so  unlike  the  Chinese,  and  why  their  art,  literature,. 
laws,  customs,  dress,  workmanship,  all  bear  a  stamp  peculiar  to  them- 
selves, though  they  received  so  much  from  them.  The  reason  is  to  be 
found  in  the  strength  and  persistence  of  the  primal  Japanese  type  of 
character,  as  influenced  by  nature,  enabling  it  to  resist  serious  altera- 
tion and  radical  change.  The  greatest  conquests  made  by  any  of  the 
imparted  elements  of  continental  civilization  was  that  of  Buddhisain, 
which  became  within  ten  centuries  the  universally  popular  religion. 

Japanese  Buddhism. 

Yet  even  its  conquests  were  but  partial.  Its  triumph  was  secured 
only  by  its.  adulteration.  Japanese  Buddhism  is  a  distinct  product  among 
the  many  forms  of  that  Asiatic  religion.  Buddhism  secured  life  and 
growth  on  Japanese  soil  only  by  being  Japanized,  by  being  grafted  on 
the  original  stock  of  ideas  in  the  Japanese  mind.  Thus,  in  order  to 
popularize  the  Indian  religion,^  the  ancient  native  heroes  and  the  local 
gods  were  all  included  within  the  Buddhist  pantheon,  and  declared  to 
be  the  incarnations  of  Buddha  in  his  various  forms.  A  class  of  deities 
exists  in  Japan  who  are  worshiped  by  the  Buddhists  under  the  general 
name  of  "gongen."  They  are  all  deified  Japanese  heroes,  warriors,  or 
famous  men.  Furthermore,  many  of  the  old  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
Shinto  were  altered  and  made  use  of  by  the  "bonzes,"  or  priests. 


LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  45 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  Buddhism  could  have  ever  been  popular 
in  Japan,  had  it  not  become  thoroughly  Japanized.  Some  of  the  first 
fruits  of  the  success  of  the  new  religion  was  the  erection  of  temples, 
pagodas,  idols,  wayside  shrines,  monasteries,  and  nunneries;  the  adop- 
tion of  the  practice  of  cremation,  until  then  unknown ;  and  the  cessation 
of  the  slaughter  of  animals  for  food.  The  largest  and  richest  of  the 
ecclesiastical  structures  were  in  or  near  Kioto.  The  priests  acted  as 
teachers,  advisers,  counselors,  and  scribes,  besides  officiating  at  the  al- 
tars, shriving  the  sick  and  attending  the  sepulture  of  the  dead. 

Mediaeval  Monasteries. 

Among  the  orders  and  sects  which  grew  and  multipHed  were  many 
similar  to  those  in  papal  Europe — mendicants,  sellers  of  indulgences, 
builders  of  shrines  and  images,  and  openers  of  mountain  paths.  The 
monasteries  became  asylums  for  the  distressed,  afflicted  and  persecuted. 
In  them  tlie  defeated  soldier,  the  penniless  and  dissatisfied,  the  refugee 
from  the  vendetta,  could  find  inviolate  shelter.  To  them  the  warrior 
after  war,  the  prince  and  the  minister  leaving  the  palace,  the  honors 
and  pomp  of  the  world,  could  retire  to  spend  the  remnant  of  their  days 
in  prayer,  worship,  and  the  offices  of  piety.  Often  the  murderer,  struck 
with  remorse,  or  the  soldier  before  his  bloody  victim,  would  resolve  to 
turn  monk. 

Not  rarely  did  men  crossed  in  love,  or  the  offspring  of  the  concubine 
<hsplaced  by  the  birth  of  the  legitimate  son,  or  the  grief-stricken  father, 
devote  himself  to  the  priestly  life.  In  general,  however,  the  ranks  of  the 
bonzes  were  recruited  from  orphans  or  piously  inclined  youth,  or  from 
overstocked  families.  To  the  nunneries,  the  fertile  soil  of  bereavement, 
remorse,  unrequited  love,  widowhood  furnished  the  greater  number  of 
sincere  and  devout  nuns.  In  many  cases,  the  deliberate  choice  of  wealthy 
ladies,  or  the  necessity  of  escaping  an  uncongenial  marriage  planned 
by  relatives,  undesirable  attentions,  or  the  lusts  of  rude  men  in  unsettled 
times,  o^ave  many  an  inmate  to  the  convents. 


46  LIFE   IN   THE    MIDDLE   AGES. 

Class  Who  Entered  Religious  Institutions. 

In  general,  however,  natural  indolence,  a  desire  to  avoid  the  round 
of  drudgery  at  the  well,  the  hoe,  or  in  the  kitchen,  or  as  nurse,  sent  the 
majority  of  applicants  to  knock  at  the  convent  doors.  Occasionally  a 
noble  lady  was  won  to  recluse  life  from  the  very  apartments  of  the  em- 
peror, or  his  ministers,  by  the  eloquence  of  a  bonze  who  was  more  zeal- 
ous than  loyal.  In  a  few  of  the  convents,  only  ladies  of  wealth  could 
enter.  The  monk  and  nun,  in  Japanese  as  in  European  history,  romance^ 
and  drama,  and  art,  are  staple  characters. 

The  rules  of  these  monastic  institutions  forbade  the  eating  of  fish 
or  flesh,  the  drinking  of  "sake,"  the  wearing  of  the  hair  or  of  fine 
clothes,  indulgence  in  certain  sensuous  pleasures,  or  the  reading  of  cer- 
tain books.  Fastings,  vigils,  reflection,  continual  prayer  by  book,  bell,, 
candle,  and  beads,  were  enjoined.  Pious  pilgrimages  were  undertaken. 
The  erection  of  a  shrine,  image  belfry,  or  lantern  by  begging  contribu- 
tions was  a  frequent  and  meritorious  enterprise.  There  stand  today 
thousands  of  these  monuments  of  the  piety,  zeal,  and  industry  of  the 
mediaeval  monks  and  nuns.  Those  at  Nara  and  Kamakura  are  the  most 
famous. 

A  Celebrated  Image. 

The  "Kamakura  Dai  Butsu"  ("Great  Buddha")  has  been  frequently 
described.  It  is  a  mass  of  copper  44  feet  high,  and  a  work  of  high  art. 
The  image  at  Nara  was  first  erected  in  the  eighth  century,  destroyed 
during  the  civil  wars,  and  recast  about  seven  hundred  years  ago.  Its 
total  height  is  533^  feet;  its  face  is  16  feet  long  and  9^  feet  wide.  The 
width  of  its  shoulders  is  2S  7-10  feet. 

Nine  hundred -and  sixty-six  curls  adorn  its  head,  around  which  is 
a  halo  78  feet  in  diameter,  on  which  are  sixteen  images,  each  8  feet  long. 
The  casting  of  the  idol  is  said  to  have  been  tried  seven  times  before  it 
was  successfully  accomplished,  and  3,000  tons  of  charcoal  were  used  in 
the  operation.  The  metal,  said  to  weigh  450  tons,  is  a  bronze  composed 
of  gold  (500  pounds),  mercury  (1,954  pounds),  tin  (16,827  pounds),  and 


LIFE   IN   THE    MIDDLE   AGES.  47 

copper  (986,080  pounds).     Many  millions  of  tons  of  copper  were  mined 
and  melted  to  make  these  idols. 

Japanese  Temple  Bells. 

Equally  renowned  were  the  great  temple-bells  of  Kioto,  and  of 
Miidera,  and  various  other  monasteries.  Some  of  these  were  ten  feet 
high,  and  adorned  with  sacred  texts  from  the  Buddhist  Scriptures,  and 
images  of  heavenly  beings,  or  Buddha  on  the  sacred  lotus  in  Nirvana, 
in  high  relief.    As  usual,  the  nimbus,  or  halo,  surrounds  his  head. 

The  bell  was  struck  on  a  raised  round  spot,  by  a  hammer  of  wood — 
a  small  tree-trunk  swung  loosely  on  two  ropes.  After  impact,  the  bell- 
man held  the  beam  on  its  rebound,  until  the  quivering  monotone  began 
to  die  away.  Few  sounds  are  more  solemnly  sweet  than  the  mellovsr 
music  of  a  Japanese  temple-bell.  On  a  still  night,  a  circumference  of 
twenty  miles  was  flooded  by  the  melody  of  the  great  bell  of  Zozoji.  The 
people  learned  to  love  their  temple-bell  as  a  dear  friend,  as  its  note 
changed  with  the  years  and  moods  of  life. 

The  Casting  of  a  Bell. 

The  casting  of  a  bell  was  ever  the  occasion  of  rejoicing  and  public 
festival.  When  the  chief  priest  of  the  city  announced  that  one  was  to 
be  made,  the  people  brought  contributions  in  money,  or  offerings  of 
bronze  gold,  pure  tin,  or  copper  vessels.  Ladies  gave  with  their  own 
hands  the  mirrors  which  had  been  the  envy  of  lovers,  young  girls  laid 
their  silver  hair-pins  and  bijouterie  on  the  heap.  When  metal  enough 
and  in  due  proportion  had  been  amassed,  crucibles  were  made,  earth- 
furnaces  dug,  the  moulds  fashioned,  and  huge  bellows,  worked  by  stand- 
ing men  at  each  end,  like  a  see-saw,  were  mounted;  and  after  due 
prayers  and  consultation,  the  auspicious  day  was  appointed. 

The  place  selected  was  usually  on  a  hill  or  commanding  place.  The 
people,  in  their  gayest  dress,  assembled  in  picnic  parties,  and  with  song 
and  dance  and  feast  waited  while  the  workmen,  in  festal  uniform,  toiled, 
and  the  priests,  in  canonical  robes,  watched.  The  fires  were  lighted, 
the  bellows  oscillated,  the  blast  roared,  and  the  crucibles  were  brought 


48  LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

to  the  proper  heat  and  the  contents  to  fiery  fluidity,  the  joy  of  the  crowd 
increasing  as  each  stage  in  the  process  is  announced.  When  the  molten 
flood  was  finally  poured  into  the  mould,  the  excitement  of  the  spectators 
reached  a  height  of  uncontrollable  enthusiasm. 

Religious  Observations. 

Another  pecuniary  harvest  was  reaped  by  the  priests  before  the 
crowds  dispersed,  by  the  sale  of  stamped  kerchiefs  or  paper  containing 
a  holy  text,  or  certifying  to  the  presence  of  the  purchaser  at  the  cere- 
mony, and  the  blessing  of  the  gods  upon  him  therefor.  Such  a  token 
became  an  heirloom;  and  the  child  who  ever  afterward  heard  the 
solemn  boom  of  the  bell  at  matin  or  evening  was  constrained,  by  fiHal 
as  well  as  holy  motives,  to  obey  and  reverence  its  admonitory  call.  The 
belfry  was  usually  a  separate  building  apart  from  the  temple,  with 
€laborate  cornices  and  roof. 

In  addition  to  the  offices  of  religion,  many  of  the  priests  were  useful 
men,  and  real  civilizers.  They  were  not  all  lazy  monks  or  idle  bonzes. 
By  the  Buddhist  priests  many  streams  were  spanned  with  bridges,  paths 
and  roads  made,  shade  or  fruit  trees  planted,  ponds  and  ditches  for  pur- 
poses of  irrigation  dug,  aqueducts  built,  unwholesome  localities 
drained,  and  mountain  passes  discovered  or  explored.  Many  were  the 
school-masters,  and,  as  learned  men,  were  consulted  on  subjects  beyond 
the  ken  of  their  parishioners.  Some  of  them,  having  a  knowledge  of 
medicine,  acted  as  physicians. 

Japan  Owes  Much  to  the  Priests. 

The  sciences  and  arts  in  Japan  all  owe  much  to  the  bonzes  who  from 
Korea  personally  introduced  many  useful  appliances  or  articles  of  food. 
Several  edible  vegetables  are  still  named  after  the  priests,  who  first 
taught  their  use.  The  exact  sciences,  astronomy  and  mathematics,  as 
well  as  the  humanities,  owe  much  of  their  cultivation  and  development 
to  clerical  scholars.  In  the  monasteries,  the  brethren  exercised  their 
▼aried  gifts  in  preaching,  study,  caligraphy,  carving,  sculptune,  or  on 
objects  of  ecclesiastical  art. 


LIFE    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  49 

The  monuments  by  which  the  memory  of  many  a  saintly  bonze  is 
still  kept  green  exists  today  as  treasures  on  the  altars,  or  in  the  temple 
or  its  shady  precincts,  in  winged  words  or  material  substances.  A  copy 
of  the  Buddhist  Scriptures,  a  sacred  classic,  in  roll  or  bound  volume, 
might  occupy  a  holy  penman  before  his  brush  and  inkstone  for  years. 
The  manuscript  texts  often  seen  in  the  hall  of  worship  on  silky  paper 
bound  in  damask,  in  Japanese  monasteries,  could  not  be  improved  in 
elegance  and  accuracy  by  the  printer's  art.  The  transcription  of  a  sutra 
on  silk,  made  to  adorn  the  wall  of  a  shrine,  in  many  cases  performed 
its  mission  for  centuries. 

The  Many  Accomplishments  of  the  Bonzes. 

Another  monk  excelled  in  improvisation  of  sacred  stanzas,  another 
painted  the  pictures  and  scrolls  by  which  the  multitude  were  taught  by 
the  priest,  with  his  pointer  in  hand,  the  mysteries  of  theology,  the 
symbols  of  worship,  the  terrors  of  the  graded  hells  and  purgatories,  and 
the  felicities  of  Nirvana.  Another  of  the  fraternity,  with  cunning  hand, 
compelled  the  wonder  of  his  brethren  by  his  skill  in  carving.  ;- 

He  could,  from  a  log  which  today  had  its  bark  on,  bring  forth  in  time 
the  serene  countenance  of  Buddha,  the  ravishing  beauty  of  Kuanon, 
the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  the  scow'ling  terrors  of  the  God  of  War,  the 
frightful  visage  of  Fudo,  or  the  hideous  face  of  the  Lord  of  Hell. 
Another  was  famous  for  molding  the  clay  for  the  carver,  the  sculptor, 
or  the  bronze-smith.  Many  articles  of  altar  furniture,  even  to  the  in- 
cense-sticks and  flowers,  were  often  made  entirely  by  clerical  hands. 

The  Industrial  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  arts  of  pottery,  lacquering,  gilding, 
bronze-casting,  engraving  and  chasing,  chisel  and  punch  wOrk^  sword- 
making,  goldsmith's  work,  were  brought  to  a  perfection  never  since  ex-* 
•elled,  if  indeed  it  has  been  equaled.  In  enameled  and  inlaid  metal 
work  the  hand  of  the  Japanese  artisan  has  undoubtedly  lost  its  cunning. 
Native  archaeologists  assert  that  a  good  catalogue  of  "lost  arts"  may; 


50  LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

be  made  out,  notably  those  of  the  composition  and  application  of  violet 
lacquer,  and  the  ancient  Cloisonne  enamel. 

The  delicacy  of  tact,  freedom  of  movement,  and  perfection  of  finish 
visible  on  Japanese  work,  are  the  result  of  long  hereditary  application 
and  concentrated  skill.  Hidden  away  in  sequestered  villages,  or  occupy- 
ing the  same  workshop  in  cities  for  centuries,  generations  of  craftsmen 
wrought  upon  one  class  of  objects,  until  from  the  workman's  hand  is 
born  the  offspring  of  a  long  pedigree  of  thought  and  dexterity. 

The  Discovery  of  Lacquer  Ware. 

Japanese  antiquarians  fix  the  date  of  the  discovery  of  lacquer  ware 
variously  at  A..  D.  724  and  900.  Echizen,  from  the  first,  has  been  noted 
for  the  abundance  and  luxuriant  yield  of  lacquer-trees,  and  the  skill  of 
her  workmen  in  extracting  the  milk-white  virgin  sap,  which  the  action 
of  the  air  turns  to  black,  and  which  by  pigments  is  changed  to  various 
colors.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  art  of  gold-lacquering  attained 
the  zenith  of  perfection.  Various  schools  of  lacquer  art  were  founded, 
one  excelling  in  landscape,  another  in  marine  scenery,  or  the  delineation, 
in  gold  and  silver  powder  and  varnish,  of  birds,  insects,  and  flowers. 
The  masters  who  flourished  during  this  period  still  rule  the  pencil  of 
the  modern  artist. 

Kioto,  as  the  civil  and  military  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  capital  of  the 
empire,  was  the  center  and  standard  of  manners,  language,  and  etiquette, 
of  art,  literature,  religion,  and  government.  No  people  are  more  courtly 
and  polished  in  their  manners  than  the  Japanese.  The  direct  influences 
of  court  life  have  made  themselves  perceptibly  felt  on  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city. 

Kioto,  the  Holy  City. 

From  this  center  radiated  the  multifarious  influences  which  have 
molded  the  character  of  the  nation.  The  country  priest  came  as  pilgrim 
to  the  capital  as  to  the  Holy  City,  to  strengthen  his  faith  and  cheer  his 
soul  amidst  its  aspirations,  to  see  the  primates  and  magnates  of  his 
sect,  to  pray  at  the  famous  shrines,  to  study  in  the  largest  monasteries,. 


LIFE    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  51 

under  the  greatest  lights  and  holiest  teachers.  Returning  to  his  parish, 
new  sanctity  was  shed  from  his  rustling  robes.  His  brethren  welcomed 
him  with  awe,  and  the  people  thronged  to  see  and  venerate  the  holy- 
man  who  had  drunk  at  the  very  fountains  of  the  faith.  The  temple 
coffers  grew  heavy  with  the  weight  of  offerings  because  of  him. 

The  sons  of  the  nobleman  in  distant  provinces  were  sent  to  Kioto 
to  be  educated,  to  learn  reading  and  writing  from  the  priests,  the  per- 
fection of  the  art  of  war  in  the  army,  the  etiquette  of  palace  life  as  pages 
to,  or  as  guests  of,  the  court  nobles.  The  artisan  or  rich  merchant 
from  Oshiu  or  Kadzusa,  who  had  made  the  journey  to  Kioto,  astonished 
his  wondering  listeners  at  home  with  tales  of  the  splendor  of  the  pro- 
cessions of  the  mikado,  the  wealth  of  the  temples,  the  number  of  the 
pagodas,  the  richness  of  the  silk  robes  of  the  court  nobles,  and  the 
wonders  which  the  Kioto  potters  and  vase-makers,  sword-forgers,  gold- 
smiths, lacquerers,  crystal-cutters,  and  bronze-moulders,  daily  exposed 
in  their  shops,  in  profusion. 

The  Seat  of  Learning. 

In  Kioto  also  dwelt  the  poets,  novelists,  historians,  grammarians, 
writers,  and  the  purists,  whose  dicta  were  laws.  By  them  were  written 
the  great  bulk  of  the  classic  literature,  embracing  poetry,  drama,  fiction, 
history,  philosophy,  etiquette,  and  the  numerous  diaries  and  works  on 
travel  in  China,  Korea,  and  the  remote  provinces  of  the  country,  and 
the  books  called  "Kagami"  ("mirrors")  of  the  times,  now  so  interesting 
to  the  antiquarian  student. 

Occasionally  nobles  or  court  ladies  would  leave  the  luxury  of  the 
city,  and  take  up  their  abode  in  a  castle,  tower,  pagoda,  or  temple  room, 
or  on  some  mountain  overlooking  Lake  Biwa,  the  sea,  or  the  Yodo 
River,  or  the  plains  of  Yamato;  and  amidst  its  inspiring  scenery,  with 
tiny  table,  ink-stone  and  brush,  pen  some  prose  epic  or  romance,  that 
has  since  become  an  immortal  classic. 

Almost  every  mansion  of  the  nobles  had  its  "looking-room,"  or 
"chamber  of  inspiring  view,"  whence  to  gaze  upon  the  landscape  or 
marine  scenery.     Rooms  set  apart  for  the  aesthetic  pleasure  still  form 


52  LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

a  feature  of  the  house  of  nearly  every  modern  native  of  means.  On 
many  a  coigne  of  vantage  may  be  seen  also  the  summer-houses  or  rustic 
booths,  where  gather  pleasure  parties  or  picnics. 

Provincial  Customs. 

In  the  civil  administration  of  the  empire,  the  chief  work  was  to 
dispense  justice,  punish  offenders,  collect  taxes,  and  settle  disputes. 
After  the  rude  surveys  of  those  days  the  boundaries  of  provinces  and 
departments  were  marked  by  inscribed  posts  of  wood  or  stone.  Before 
the  days  of  writing,  the  same  end  was  secured  by  charcoal  buried  in  the 
earth  at  certain  points,  the  durability  of  which  insured  the  mark  against 
decay. 

The  peasants,  after  the  rice-harvest  was  over,  brought  their  tribute, 
or  taxes,  with  joyful  ceremony,  to  the  government  granaries  in  straw 
bags,  packed  on  horses  gaily  decorated  with  scarlet  housings,  and  jing- 
ling with  clusters  of  small  bells.  A  relic  of  this  custom  is  seen  in  the 
bunches  of  bells  suspended  by  red  cotton  stuff  from  the  rear  of 
the  pack-saddle,  which  dangle  musically  from  the  ungainly  haunches  of 
the  native  sumpters. 

Barriers  Between  Provinces. 

From  earliest  times  there  existed  "seki"  (guard  gates  or  barriers) 
between  the  various  provinces  at  mountain  passes  or  strategic  points. 
As  feudalism  developed,  they  grew  more  numerous.  A  fence  of  palisades, 
stretched  across  the  road,  guarded  the  path  through  which,  according 
to  time,  or  orders  of  the  keepers,  none  could  pass  with  arms,  or  without 
the  pass-word  or  pass-port. 

Anciently  they  were  erected  at  the  Hakone  and  other  mountain 
passes,  to  keep  up  the  distinction  between  the  Ainos  and  the  pure 
Japanese.  The  possession  of  these  barriers  was  ever  an  important 
object  of  rival  military  commanders,  and  the  shifts,  devices,  and  extraor- 
dinary artifices  resorted  to  by  refugees,  disguised  worthies,  and  for- 
bidden characters,  furnish  the  historian,  the  novelist,  and  dramatist  with 
some  of  their  most  thrilling  episodes. 


LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  S3 

An  Interesting  Anecdote. 

It  is  related  of  Yoshitsune,  after  he  had  incurred  the  wrath  of  Yori- 
tomo,  that,  with  Benkei,  his  servant,  he  arrived  at  a  guard  gate  kept 
by  some  Genji  soldiers,  who  would  have  been  sure  to  arrest  him  had 
they  discovered  his  august  personality.  Disguised  as  wandering  priests 
of  the  Buddhist  sect  Yama-bushi,  they  approached  the  gate,  and  were 
challenged  by  the  sentinel,  who,  like  most  of  his  class  at  that  time,  was 
ignorant  of  writing. 

Benkei,  with  great  dignity,  drawing  from  his  bosom  a  roll  of  blank 
paper,  began,  after  touching  it  reverently  to  his  forehead,  to  extemporize 
and  read  aloud  in  choicest  and  most  pious  language  a  commission  from 
the  high-priest  at  the  temple  of  Hokoji,  in  Kioto,  in  which  stood  the 
great  image  of  Buddha,  authorizing  him  to  collect  money  to  cast  a 
colossal  bell  for  the  temple. 

At  the  first  mention  of  the  name  of  his  reverence,  the  renowned 
priest,  so  talismanic  in  all  the  empire,  the  soldier  dropped  down  on  his 
knees  with  face  to  the  ground,  and  listened  with  reverent  awe,  unaware 
that  the  paper  was  as  blank  as  the  reader's  tongue  was  glib.  To  further 
lull  suspicion,  Benkei  apologized  for  the  rude  conduct  of  his  servant- 
boy,  who  stood  during  the  reading,  because  he  was  only  a  boor  just 
out  of  the  rice-fields ;  and,  giving  him  a  kick,  bid  him  get  down  on  his 
marrow-bones,  and  not  stand  up  in  the  presence  of  a  gentleman  and  a 
soldier.  The  ruse  was  complete.  The  illustrious  youth  and  his  servant 
passed  on. 

Medical  and  Surgical  Science. 

Medical  science  made  considerable  progress  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies. The  materia  medica,  system,  practice,  and  literature  of  the  heal- 
ing art  were  borrowed  from  China ;  but  upon  these,  as  upon  most  other 
matters,  the  Japanese  improved.  Acupuncture,  or  the  introduction  of 
needles  into  living  tissues  for  remedial  purposes,  was  much  improved  by 
the  Japanese.  The  puncturing  needles,  as  fine  as  a  hair,  were  made 
of  gold,  silver,  or  tempered  steel,  by  experts. 

The  bones,  large  nerves,  or  blood  vessels  were  carefully  avoided  in 


54  LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

the  process,  which  enjoyed  great  repute  in  cases  of  a  peculiar  violent 
colic,  to  which  the  natives  are  subject,  and  which  sometimes  becomes 
epidemic.  On  the  theory  that  this  malady  was  caused  by  wind,  holes 
were  made  in  the  stomach  or  abdomen,  to  the  mystic  number  of  nine — 
corresponding  to  the  nine  apertures  of  the  body. 

Popular  Remedies. 

"Moxa"  (Japanese,  "mokusa;"  "mo,"  fire;  from  "moyeru,"  to  burn, 
and  "kusa,"  herb,  grass),  or  the  burning  of  a  small  cone  of  cottony  fibers 
of  the  artemisia,  on  the  back  or  feet,  was  practiced  as  early  as  the 
eleventh  century,  reference  being  made  to  it  in  a  poem  written  at  that 
time.  A  number  of  ancient  stanzas  and  puns,  relating  to  Mount  Ibuki, 
on  the  sides  of  which  the  mugwort  grows  luxuriantly,  are  still  extant. 
To  this  day  it  is  an  exception  to  find  the  backs  of  the  common  people 
unscarred  with  the  spots  left  by  the  moxa. 

The  use  of  mercury  in  corrosive  sublimate  was  very  anciently  known. 
The  "do-sha"  powder,  however,  which  was  said  to  cure  various  diseases, 
and  to  relax  the  rigid  limbs  of  a  corpse,  was  manufactured  and  sold  only 
by  the  bonzes  of  the  Shin  Gon  sect.  It  is,  and  always  was,  a  pious 
fraud,  being  nothing  but  unefficacious  quartz  sand,  mixed  with  grains 
of  mica  and  pyrites. 

Wine,  Women  and  Song. 

Of  the  mediaeval  sports  and  pastimes  within  and  without  of  doors, 
the  former  were  preferred  by  the  weak  and  effeminate,  the  latter  by 
the  hale  and  strong.  Banquets  and  carousals  in  the  palace  were  frequent. 
The  brewing  of  sake  from  rice  was  begun,  according  to  record,  in  the 
third  century,  and  the  office  of  chief  butler  even  earlier.  The  native 
sauce,  "sho-yu,"  made  of  fermented  wheat  and  beans,  with  salt  and 
vinegar,  which  the  cunning  purveyors  of  Europe  use  as  the  basis  of 
their  high-priced  piquant  sauces,  was  made  and  used  as  early  as  the 
twelfth  century. 

The  name  of  this  saline  oil  ("sho,"  salt;  "yu,"  oil)  appears  as  "soy" 
in  our  dictionaries,  it  being  one  of  the  three  words  (soy,  bonze,  moxa) 
which  we  have  borrowed  frnrp  *h^  Japanese.    At  the  feasts,  besides  the 


LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  55 

wine  and  delicacies  to  please  the  palate,  music,  song,  and  dance  made 
the  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul,  while  witty  and  beautiful  women 
lent  grace  and  added  pleasure  to  the  festivities. 

Court  Life. 

In  long,  trailing  robes  of  white,  crimson,  or  highly  figured  silk,  with 
hair  flowing  in  luxuriance  over  the  shoulders,  and  bound  gracefully  in 
one  long  tress  which  fell  below  the  waist  behind,  maids  and  ladies  of 
the  palace  rained  glances  and  influence  upon  the  favored  ones.  They 
fired  the  heart  of  admirers  by  the  bewitching  beauty  of  a  well-formed 
hand,  foot,  neck,  face,  or  form  decked  with  whatever  added  charms 
cosmetics  could  bestow  upon  them.  Japanese  ladies  have  ever  been 
noted  for  neatness,  good  taste,  and,  on  proper  occasions,  splendor  and 
luxuriance  of  dress. 

With  fan,  and  waving  long  sleeve,  the  language  of  secret  but  out- 
wardly decorous  passion  found  ample  expression.  Kisses,  the  pressure 
of  the  hand,  and  other  symbols  of  love  as  expressed  in  other  lands,  were 
then,  as  now,  unknown.  In  humble  life,  also,  in  all  their  social  pleasures 
the  two  sexes  met  together  to  participate  in  the  same  delights,  with  far 
greater  freedom  than  is  known  in  Asiastic  countries.  As,  however, 
wives  or  concubines  have  not  always  the  attractions  of  youth,  beauty, 
wit,  maidenly  freshness,  or  skill  at  the  "koto,"  the  "geisha,"  or  singing- 
girl,  then  as  now,  served  the  sake,  danced,  sung,  and  played,  and  was 
rewarded  by  the  gold  or  gifts  of  the  host,  or  perhaps  became  his  Hagar. 

Diversions  Peculiar  to  the  Palace. 

The  statement  that  the  empress  was  attended  only  by  "vestals  who 
had  never  beheld  a  man"  is  disproved  by  a  short  study  of  the  volumes 
of  poetry,  amorous  and  otherwise,  written  by  them,  and  still  quoted  as 
classic.  As  to  the  standard  of  virtue  in  those  days,  I  believe  it  was 
certainly  not  below  that  of  the  later  Roman  empire,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  it  was  far  above  it. 

In  the  court  at  Kioto,  besides  games  of  skill  or  chance  in  the  house, 
were  foot-ball,  cock-fighting,  falconry,  horsemanship,  and  archery.    The 


56  LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

robust  games  of  the  military  classes  were  hunting  the  boar,  deer,  bear, 
and  smaller  game.  Hunting  by  falcons,  which  had  been  introduced  by 
some. Korean  ambassadors  in  the  time  of  Jingu  Kogo,  was  almost  as 
extensively  practiced  as  in  Europe,  almost  every  feudal  lord  having  his 
perch  of  falcons. 

Fishing  by  cormorants,  though  a  useful  branch  of  the  fisherman's  in- 
dustry, was  also  indulged  in  for  pleasure.  The  severe  exercise  of  hunting 
for  sport,  however,  never  became  as  absorbing  and  popular  in  Japan  as 
in  Europe,  being  confined  more  to  the  profession  of  huntsman,  and  the 
seeker  for  daily  food. 

Favorite  Forms  of  Amusement. 

The  court  ladies  shaved  off  their  eyebrows,  and  pointed  two  sable 
bars  or  spots  on  the  forehead  resembling  false  eyebrows.  In  addition  to 
the  gentle  tasks  of  needle-work  and  embroidery,  they  passed  the  time 
in  games  of  chess,  checkers,  painted  shells,  and  a  diversion  peculiar  to 
the  palace,  in  which  the  skill  of  the  player  depended  on  her  sensitiveness 
in  appreciating  perfumes,  the  necessary  articles  being  vials  of  fragrant 
extracts.    Their  pets  were  the  peculiar  little  dogs  called  "chin." 

They  stained  their  teeth  black,  like  the  women  of  the  lower  classes; 
an  example  which  the  nobles  of  the  sterner  sex  followed,  as  they  grew 
more  and  more  effeminate.  One  of  the  staple  diversions  of  both  sexes 
at  the  court  was  to  write  poetry,  and  recite  it  to  each  other.  The  em- 
peror frequently  honored  a  lady  or  noble  by  giving  the  chosen  one  a 
subject  upon  which  to  compose  a  poem.  A  happy  thought,  skilfully 
wrought  stanza,  a  felicitous  grace  of  pantomime,  often  made  the  poetess 
a  maid  of  honor,  a  concubine,  or  even  an  empress,  and  the  poet  a  min- 
ister or  councilor. 

The  Origin  of  a  Classic. 

Another  favorite  means  of  amusement  was  to  write  and  read  or  tell 
stories — the  Scheherezade  of  these  being  a  beautiful  lady,  who  often 
composed  her  own  stories.  The  following  instance  is  abbreviated  from 
the  Onna  Dai  Gaku  ("Woman's  Great  Study") :  Ise  no  Taiyu  was  a 
Autghter  of  Sukeichika,  the  mikado's  minister  of  festivals,  and  a  highly 


LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  57 

accomplished  lady.  None  among  the  ladies  of  the  court  could  equal 
her.  One  day  a  branch  of  luxuriant  cherry-blossoms  was  brought  from 
Nara.  The  emperor  gave  it  to  her,  and  asked  her  to  extemporize  a  verse. 
She  did  so,  and  the  courtiers  were  all  astonished  at  the  beauty  and  deli- 
cate sentiment  of  the  verse. 

Sei  Shonagon  was  the  daughter  of  Kiyowara  no  Motosuke.  She  was 
one  of  the  imperial  concubines.  She  was  well  read  in  Japanese  and 
Chinese  literature,  and  composed  poetry  almost  from  infancy,  having  a 
wonderful  facility  of  improvization.  One  day,  after  a  fall  of  snow,  she 
looked  out  from  the  southern  door  of  the  palace. 

The  emperor,  having  passed  round  the  wine-cup  to  his  lords  and 
ladies  at  the  usual  morning  assembly  of  the  courtiers  and  maids  of  honor, 
said,  "How  is  the  snow  of  Kuraho?"  No  one  else  understood  the  mean- 
ing, but  Sei  Shonagon  instantly  stepped  forward  and  drew  up  the  cur- 
tains, revealing  the  mountains  decked  in  fresh-fallen  snow.  The  em- 
peror was  delighted,  and  bestowed  upon  her  a  prize.  Sei  Shonagon 
had  understood  his  allusion  to  the  line  in  an  ancient  poem  which  ran 
thus: 

**The  snow  of  Kuraho  is  seen  by  raising  the  curtains." 

Lacking  in  Artistic  Taste. 

Once  when  a  certain  kuge  was  traveling  in  a  province,  he  came,  on 
a  moonlight  night,  to  a  poor  village  in  which  the  cottage  had  fallen  into 
picturesque  decay,  the  roofs  of  which  gleamed  like  silver.  The  sight 
of  the  glorified  huts  inspired  him  with  such  a  fine  frenzy  that  he  sat  up 
all  night  gazing  rapturously  on  the  scene,  anon  composing  stanzas. 

He  was  so  delighted  that  he  planned  to  remain  in  the  place  several 
days.  The  next  morning,  however,  the  villagers,  hearing  of  the  pres- 
ence of  so  illustrious  a  guest  among  them,  began  busily  to  repair  the  ruin, 
and  to  rethatch  the  roofs.  The  kuge,  seeing  all  his  poetic  visions  dis- 
pelled by  this  vandal  industry,  ordered  his  bullock-car,  and  was  off,  dis- 
gusted. 


58  LIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

/' 

The  Spoken  and  Written  Language. 

During  the  first  centuries  of  writing  in  Japan,  the  spoken  and  the 
written  language  were  identical.  With  the  study  of  the  Chinese  litera- 
ture, and  the  composition  of  works  by  the  native  literati  almost  exclu- 
sively in  that  language,  grew  up  differences  between  the  colloquial  and 
literary  idiom  and  terminology.  The  infusion  of  a  large  number  of 
Chinese  words  into  the  common  speech  steadily  increased;  while  the 
learned  affected  a  pedantic  style  of  conversation,  so  interlarded  with 
Chinese  names,  words,  and  expressions,  that  to  the  vulgar  their  dis- 
course was  almost  unintelligible. 

Buddhism  also  made  Chinese  the  vehicle  of  its  teachings,  and  the 
people  everywhere  became  familiar,  not  only  with  its  technical  terms, 
but  with  its  stock  phrases  and  forms  of  thought.  To  this  day  the  Bud- 
dhist, or  sham-religious,  way  of  talking  is  almost  a  complete  tongue  in 
itself,  and  a  good  dictionary  always  gives  a  Buddhistic  meaning  of  a 
word  separately. 

Familiar  Expressions. 

In  reading  or  hearing  Japanese,  the  English-speaking  resident  con- 
tinually stumbles  on  his  own  religious  cant  and  orthodox  expressions, 
which  he  believes  to  be  peculiar  to  his  own  atmosphere,  that  have  a 
meaning  entirely  different  from  the  natural  sense;  "this  vale  of  tears," 
^'this  evil  world,"  "gone  to  his  reward,"  "dust  and  ashes,"  "worm  of  the 
dust,"  and  many  phrases  which  so  many  think  are  exclusively  Christian 
or  evangelical,  are  echoed  in  Japanese. 

So  much  is  this  true,  that  the  missionaries,  in  translating  religious 
books,  are  at  first  delighted  to  find  exact  equivalents  for  many  expres- 
sions desirable  in  technical  theology,  or  for  what  may  fairly  be  termed 
pious  slang,  but  will  not  use  them,  for  fear  of  misleading  the  reader, 
or  rather  of  failing  to  lead  him  out  of  his  old  notions  into  the  new  faith 
Avhich  it  is  desired  to  teach. 

So  general  have  the  use  and  affectation  of  Chinese  become,  that  in 
many  instances  the  pedantic  Chinese  name  or  word  has  been  retained 
in  the  mouths  of  the  people,  while  the  more  beautiful  native  term  is 


LIFE   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  59, 

almost  lost.  In  general,  however,  only  the  men  were  devoted  to  Chin- 
ese, while  the  cultivation  of  the  Japanese  language  was  left  to  the 
women.  This  task  the  women  nobly  discharged,  fully  maintaining  the 
credit  of  the  native  literature. 

Most  of  the  Poetry  the  Work  of  Women. 

Mr.  W.  G.  Aston  says,  *T  believe  no  parallel  is  to  be  found  in  the 
history  of  European  letters,  to  the  remarkable  fact  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  best  writings  of  the  best  age  of  Japanese  literature 
was  the  work  of  women."  The  "Genji  Monogatari"  is  the  acknowledged 
standard  of  the  language  for  the  jperiod  to  which  it  belongs,  ^nd  the 
parent  of  the  Japanese  novel.  This,  with  the  classics,  "Ise  Monogatari'* 
and  "Makura  Zoshi,"  and  much  of  the  poetry  of  the  time,  are  the  works 
of  women.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  borrowed  Chinese  words  were 
taken  entirely  from  the  written,  not  the  colloquial,  language  of  China, 
the  latter  having  never  been  spoken  by  the  Japanese,  except  by  a  few 
interpreters  at  Nagasaki.  The  Japanese  literary  style  is  more  concise, 
and  retains  archaic  forms. 

As  in  the  English  speech,  the  child  of  the  wedded  Saxon  and  Norman, 
the  words  which  express  the  wants,  feelings  and  concerns  of  every-day 
life — all  that  is  deepest  in  the  human  heart — are  for  the  most  part  native; 
the  technical,  scientific,  and  abstract  terms  are  foreign.  Hence,  if  we 
would  find  the  fountains  of  the  musical  and  beautiful  language  of  Japan, 
we  must  seek  them  in  the  hearts,  and  hear  them  flow  from  the  lips  of  the 
mothers  of  the  Island  Empire. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
INVASION  OF  THE  MONGOL  TARTARS 

Embassies  from  China — The  Chinese  Armada — Acts  of  Personal  Bravery — ^Heroism  of 
Michiari — The  Whole  Nation  Aroused — The  Wrath  of  Heaven — To  the  Victor  Be- 
longs the  ^>oils — Evil  Counsel — The  Divinity  of  Kings — The  Temporary  Mikadoate. 

DURING  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  friendly  inter- 
course was  regularly  kept  up  between  Japan  and  China.  Em- 
bassies were  dispatched  to  and  fro  on  various  missions,  but  chiefly  with 
the  mutual  object  of  bearing  the  congratulations  to  an  emperor  upon 
his  accession  to  the  throne.  It  Is  mentioned  in  the  "Gazetteer  of  Echi- 
zem"  ("Echizen  Koku  Mel  SeikI  Ko")  that  Embassies  from  China,  with 
a  retinue  and  crew  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  persons,  came  to 
Japan  A.  D.  jy6  to  bear  congratulations  to  the  Mikado,  Konin  Tenno. 

Early  Expeditions. 

The  vessel  was  wrecked  in  a  typhoon  off  the  coast  of  Echizen,  and 
but  forty-six  of  the  company  were  saved.  They  were  fed  and  sheltered 
In  Echizen.  In  A  D.  779,  the  Japanese  Embassy,  returning  from  China, 
landed  at  Mikuni,  the  sea-port  of  Fukui. 

In  883,  orders  were  sent  from  Kioto  to  the  provinces  north  of  the 
capital  to  repair  the  bridges  and  roads,  bury  the  dead  bodies,  and  re- 
move all  obstacles,  because  the  envoys  of  China  were  coming  that  way. 
The  civil  disorders  in  both  countries  interrupted  these  friendly  relations 
In  the  twelfth  century,  and  communications  ceased  until  they  were  re- 
newed again  In  the  time  of  the  Hojo,  In  the  manner  now  to  be  described. 

In  China,  the  Mongol  Tartars  had  overthrown  the  Sung  dynasty,  and 
had  conquered  the  adjacent  countries.  Through  the  Koreans,  the  Mon- 
gol Emperor,  Kublai  Khan,  at  whose  court  Marco  Polo  and  his  uncles 

60 


INVASION  OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS.  6i 

were  then  residing,  sent  letters  demanding  tribute  and  homage  from 
Japan.  Chinese  envoys  came  to  Kamakura,  but  Hojo  Tokimune,  en- 
raged at  the  insolent  demands,  dismissed  them  in  disgrace.  Six  embas- 
sies were  sent,  and  six  times  rejected. 

Repulse  of  the  Invaders. 

An  expedition  from  China,  consisting  of  ten  thousand  men,  was  sent 
against  Japan.  They  landed  at  Tsushima  and  Iki.  They  were  bravely 
attacked,  and  their  commander  slain.  All  Kiushiu  having  roused  to 
arms,  the  expedition  returned,  having  accomplished  nothing.  The 
Chinese  Emperor  now  sent  nine  envoys,  who  announced  their  purpose 
to  remain  until  a  definite  answer  was  returned  to  their  master. 

They  were  called  Kamakura,  and  the  Japanese  reply  was  given  by 
cutting  ofif  their  heads  at  the  village  of  Tatsu  no  kuchi  (Mouth  of  the 
Dragon),  near  the  city.  The  Japanese  now  girded  themselves  for  the 
war  they  knew  was  imminent.  Troops  from  the  East  were  sent  to  guard 
Kioto.  Munitions  of  war  were  prepared,  magazines  stored,  castles  re- 
paired, and  new  armies  levied  and  drilled.  Boats  and  junks  were  built 
to  meet  the  enemy  on  the  sea.  Once  more  Chinese  Envoys  came  to 
demand  tribute.  Again  the  sword  gave  the  answer,  and  their  heads  fell 
at  Daizaifu,  in  Kiushiu,  in  1279. 

Fighting  Against  Overpowering  Odds. 

Meanwhile  the  Armada  was  preparing.  Great  China  was  coming  to 
crush  the  little  strip  of  land  that  refused  homage  to  the  invincible  con- 
queror. The  army  numbered  one  hundred  thousand  Chinese  and  Tar- 
tars, and  seven  thousand  Koreans,  in  ships  that  whitened  the  sea  as  the 
snowy  herons  whiten  the  islands  of  Lake  Biwa.  They  numbered  thirty- 
five  hundred  in  all.  In  the  Seventh  month  of  the  year  1281,  the  tassled 
prows  and  fluted  sails  of  the  Chinese  junks  greeted  the  straining  eyes 
of  watchers  on  the  hills  of  Daizaifu, 

The  Armada  sailed  gallantly  up,  and  ranged  itself  off  the  castled 
city.  Many  of  the  junks  were  of  immense  proportions,  larger  than  the 
natives  of  Japan  had  ever  seen  and  armed  with  the  engines  of  European 


62  INVASION   OF  THE  MONGOL  TARTARS. 

warfare,  which  their  Venetian  guests  had  taught  the  Mongols  to  con- 
struct and  work.  The  Japanese  had  small  chance  of  success  on  the 
water;  although  their  boats,  being  swifter  and  lighter,  were  more 
easily  managed,  yet  many  of  them  were  sunk  by  the  darts  and  huge 
stones  hurled  by  the  catapults  mounted  on  their  enemy's  decks.  In  per- 
sonal prowess  the  natives  of  Nippon  were  superior.  Swimming  out  to 
the  fleet,  a  party  of  thirty  boarded  a  junk,  and  cut  off  the  heads  of  the 
crew;  but  another  party  attempting  to  do  so,  were  all  killed  by  the  now 
wary  Tartars. 

Hand  to  Hand  Battles. 

One  captain,  Kusanojiro,  with  a  picked  crew,  in  broad  daylight,, 
sculled  rapidly  out  to  an  outlying  junk,  and,  in  spite  of  a  shower  of  darts, 
one  of  which  took  ofif  his  left  arm,  ran  his  boat  alongside  a  Chinese  junk, 
and,  letting  down  the  masts,  boarded  the  decks.  A  hand-to-hand  fight 
ensued,  and,  before  the  enemy's  fleet  could  assist,  the  daring  assailants 
set  the  ship  on  fire  and  were  off,  carrying  away  twenty-one  heads.  The 
fleet  now  ranged  itself  in  a  cordon,  linking  each  vessel  to  the  other 
with  an  iron  chain.    They  hoped  thus  to  foil  the  cutting-out  parties. 

Besides  the  catapults,  immense  bow-guns  shooting  heavy  darts  were 
mounted  on  their  decks,  so  as  to  sink  all  attacking  boats.  By  these 
means  many  of  the  latter  were  destroyed,  and  more  than  one  company 
of  Japanese  who  expected  victory  lost  their  lives.  Still,  the  enemy  could 
not  effect  a  landing  in  force.  Their  small  detachments  were  cut  off  or 
driven  into  the  sea  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  shore,  and  over  two 
thousand  heads  were  among  the  trophies  of  the  defenders  in  the  skir- 
mishes. A  line  of  fortifications  many  miles  long,  consisting  of  earth- 
works and  heavy  palisading  planks,  was  now  erected  along-shore.  Be- 
hind these  the  defenders  watched  the  invaders,  and  challenged  them  to 
land. 

Fighting  for  Their  Native  Land. 

There  was  a  Japanese  captain,  Michiari,  w^ho  had  long  hoped  for 
the  invasion.  He  had  prayed  often  to  the  gods  that  he  might  have  op- 
portunity to  fight  the  Mongols.     He  had  written  his  prayers  on  paper,. 


INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS.  63. 

and,  burning  them,  had  solemnly  swallowed  the  ashes.  He  was  now 
overjoyed  at  the  prospect  of  a  combat.  Sallying  out  from  behind  the 
breastwork,  he  defied  the  enemy  to  fight. 

Shortly  after,  he  filled  two  boats  with  brave  fellows  and  pushed  out, 
apparently  unarmed,  to  the  fleet.  "He  is  mad,"  cried  the  spectators  on 
the  shore.  "How  bold,"  said  the  man  on  the  fleet,  "for  two  littk  boats 
to  attack  a  thousand  great  ships!  Surely  he  is  coming  to  surrender 
himself."    Supposing  this  to  be  his  object,  they  refrained  from  shooting. 

When  within  a  few  oars'  lengths,  the  Japanese,  flinging  out  ropes 
with  grappling-hooks,  leaped  on  the  Tartar  junk.  The  bows  and  spears 
of  the  latter  were  no  match  for  the  two-handled  razor-like  swords  of  the 
Japanese.  The  issue,  though  for  a  while  doubtful,  was  a  swift  and  com- 
plete victory  for  the  men  who  were  fighting  for  their  native  land.  Burn- 
ing the  junk,  the  surviving  victors  left  before  the  surrounding  ships 
could  cut  them  off.  Among  the  captured  was  one  of  the  highest  officers 
in  the  Mongol  fleet. 

Petitions  to  the  Gods. 

The  whole  nation  was  now  aroused.  Re-enforcements  poured  in 
from  all  quarters  to  swell  the  host  of  the  defenders.  From  the  monas- 
teries and  temples  all  over  the  country  went  up  unceasing  prayer  to  the 
gods  to  ruin  their  enemies  and  save  the  land  of  Japan.  The  emperor 
went  in  solemn  state  to  the  chief  priest  of  Shinto,  and  writing  out  his 
petitions  to  the  gods," sent  him  as  a  messenger  to  the  shrines  of  Ise. 

It  is  recorded,  as  a  miraculous  fact,  that  at  the  hour  of  noon,  as  the 
sacred  envoy  arrived  at  the  shrine  and  offered  the  prayer — the  day  being 
perfectly  clear — a  streak  of  cloud  appeared  in  the  sky,  which  soon  over- 
spread the  heavens,  until  the  dense  masses  portended  a  storm  of  awful 

violence. 

The  Elements  Favor  the  Japanese. 

One  of  those  cyclones  of  appalling  velocity  and  resistless  force,  such 
as  whirl  along  the  coasts  of  Japan  and  China  during  late  summer  and- 
early  fall  of  every  year,  burst  upon  the  Chinese  fleet.  Nothing  can 
withstand  these  maelstroms  of  the  air.     We  call  them  typhoons;  the 


64  INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL   TARTARS. 

Japanese  say  "tai-fu,"  or  "okaze"   (great  wind).     Iron  steamships  of 
thousands  of  horse-power  are  almost  unmanageable  in  them. 

Junks  are  helpless;  the  Chinese  ships  were  these  only.  They  were 
butted  together  like  m.ad  bulls.  They  were  impaled  on  the  rocks,  dashed 
against  the  cliffs,  or  tossed  on  land  like  corks  from  the  spray.  They 
were  blown  over  till  they  careened  and  filled.  Heavily  freighted  with 
human  beings,  they  sunk  by  hundreds.  The  corpses  were  piled  on  the 
shore  or  floating  on  the  water  so  thickly  that  it  seemed  almost  possible 
to  walk  thereon.  Those  driven  out  to  sea  may  have  reached  the  main- 
land, but  were  probably  overwhelmed.  The  vessels  of  the  survivors,  in 
large  numbers,  drifted  or  were  wrecked  upon  Taka  Island,  where  they 
established  themselves,  and  cutting  down  trees,  began  building  boats 
to  reach  Korea. 

Utter  Destruction  of  the  Chinese  Army. 

Here  they  were  attacked  by  the  Japanese,  and,  after  a  bloody  strug- 
gle, all  the  fiercer  for  the  despair  on  the  one  side  and  the  exultation  on 
the  other,  were  all  slain  or  driven  into  the  sea  to  be  drowned,  except 
three,  who  were  sent  back  to  tell  their  emperor  how  the  gods  of  Japan 
had  destroyed  their  armada.  The  Japanese  exult  in  the  boast  that  their 
gods  and  their  heaven  prevailed  over  the  gods  and  heaven  of  the 
Chinese. 

This  was  the  last  time  that  China  ever  attempted  to  conquer  Japan, 
whose  people  boast  that  their  land  has  never  been  denied  by  an  invad- 
ing arm.y.  They  have  ever  ascribed  the  glory  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Tartar  fleet  to  the  interposition  of  the  gods  of  Ise,  who  thereafter  re- 
ceived special  and  grateful  adoration  as  the  guardian  of  the  seas  and 
winds.  Great  credit  and  praise  were  given  to  the  lord  of  Kamakura, 
Hojo  Tomkimune,  for  his  energy,  ability  and  valor.  The  author  of  the 
Guai  Shi  says :  "The  repulse  of  the  Tartar  barbarians  by  Tokune,  and 
his  preserving  the  dominions  of  our  Son  of  Heaven,  were  sufficient  to 
atone  for  the  crimes  of  his  ancestors." 

Nearly  six  centuries  afterward,  when  "the  barbarian"  Perry  anchored 
liis  fleet  in  the  Bav  of  Yedo,  in  the  words  of  the  native  annalist,  "Orders 


INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS.  65 

were  sent  by  the  imperial  court  to  the  Shinto  priests  at  Ise  to  offer  up 
prayers  for  the  sweeping  away  of  the  barbarians."  Millions  of  earnest 
hearts  put  up  the  same  prayers  as  their  fathers  had  offered,  fully  ex- 
pecting the  same  results. 

To  this  day  the  Japanese  mother  in  Kiushiu  hushes  her  fretful  infant 
by  the  question,  "Do  you  think  the  Mogu  (Mongols)  are  coming?"  This 
is  the  only  serious  attempt  at  invasion  ever  made  by  any  nation  upon  the 
shores  of  Japan. 

Desire  for  a  Supreme  Ruler. 

The  first  step  to  be  taken  after  the  defeat  of  the  Hojos  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  military  usurpation  of  Kamakura  was  to  recall  the 
Mikado  Go-Daigo  (13 19-1336)  from  exile.  With  the  sovereign  again  in 
full  power,  it  seemed  as  though  the  ancient  and  rightful  government 
was  to  be  permanently  restored.  The  military  or  dual  system  had  lasted 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  patriots  now  hoped  to  see  the 
country  rightly  governed,  without  intervention  between  the  throne  and 
the.  people. 

The  rewarding  of  the  victors  who  had  fought  for  him  was  the  first 
duty  awaiting  the  restored  exile.  The  methods  and  procedure  of  feudal- 
ism were  now  so  fixed  in  the  general  policy  of  the  Government,  that 
Go-Daigo,  falling  into  the  ways  of  the  Minamoto  and  Hojo,  apportioned 
military  fiefs  as  guerdons  to  his  vassals.  Among  them  was  Ashikaga 
Takauji,  to  whom  was  awarded  the  greatest  prize,  consisting  of  the 
rich  provinces  of  Hitachi;  and  to  Nitta,  Kodzuki  and  Harima,  besides 
smaller  fiefs  to  many  others. 

The  Ambition  of  Ashikaga. 

The  unfair  distribution  of  spoils  astounded  the  patriots,  who  ex- 
pected to  see  the  high  rank  and  power  conferred  upon  Nitta  and 
Kusunoki,  the  chief  leaders  in  the  war  for  the  restoration,  and  both  very 
able  men. 

It  would  have  been  well  had  the  emperor  seen  the  importance  of 
disregarding  the  claims  and  privileges  of  caste,  and  exalted  to  highest 
rank  the  faithful  men  who  were  desirous  of  maintaining  the  dignity  of 


66  INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS. 

the  throne,  and  whose  fear  was  that  the  duarchy  would  again  arise. 
Such  a  fear  was  by  no  means  groundless,  for  Ashikoga,  elated  at  such 
unexpected  favor,  became  inflamed  with  a  still  higher  ambition,  and 
already  meditated  refounding  the  shogunate  at  Kamakura,  and  placing 
his  own  family  upon  the  military  throne. 

Being  of  Minamoto  stock,  he  knew  that  he  had  prestige  and  popu- 
larity in  his  favor,  should  he  attempt  the  re-election  of  the  shogunate. 
Most  of  the  common  soldiers  had  fought  rather  against  Hojo  than 
against  duarch3^  The  emperor  was  warned  against  this  man  by  his 
ministers;  but  in  this  case  a  woman's  srniles  and  caresses  and  importu- 
nate words  were  more  powerful  than  the  advice  of  sages.  Ashikaga  had 
bribed  the  Mikado's  concubine  Kadoko  and  had  so  won  her  favor  that 
she  persuaded  her  imperial  lord  to  bestow  excessive  and  undeserved 
honor  on  the  traitor. 

Discontent  Prevails. 

The  distribution  of  spoils  excited  discontent  among  the  soldiers,  who 
now  began  to  lose  all  interest  in  the  cause  for  which  they  had  fought, 
and  to  murmur  privately  among  themselves.  "Should  such  an  unjust 
government  continue,"  said  they,  "then  we  are  all  servants  of  con- 
cubines and  dancing-girls  and  singing-boys.  Rather  than  be  the  puppets 
of  the  Mikado's  amusers,  we  would  prefer  a  shogun  again,  and  become 
his  vassals." 

Many  of  the  captains  and  smaller  clan-leaders  were  also  in  bad 
humor  over  their  own  small  shares.  Ashikaga  Takauji  took  advantage 
of  this  feeling  to  make  himself  popular  among  the  disaffected,  especially, 
those  who  cling  to  arms  as  a  profession  and  wish  to  remain  soldiers,  pre- 
ferring war  to  peace.  Of  such  inflammable  material  the  latent  traitor 
was  not  slow  to  avail  himself  when  it  suited  him  to  light  the  flames  of 
war. 

Had  the  Mikado  listened  to  his  wise  counsellor,  and  also  placed 
Kusunoki  in  an  office  commensurate  with  his  commanding  abilities,  and 
regarded  Nitta  as  he  deserved,  the  century  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed 
which  followed  might  have  been  spared  to  Japan. 


INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS.  67 

Sampson  and  Delilah. 

Go-Daigo,  who  in  the  early  years  of  his  former  reign  had  been  a 
man  of  indomitable  courage  and  energ}'-,  seems  to  have  lost  the  best 
traits  of  his  character  in  his  exile,  retaining  only  his  imperious  will  and 
susceptibility  to  flattery.  To  this  degenerate  Sampson  a  Delilah  was  not 
wanting.  He  fell  an  easy  victim  to  the  wiles  of  one  man,  though  the 
shears  by  which  his  strength  was  shorn  were  held  by  a  woman. 

Ashikaga  was  a  consummate  master  of  the  arts  of  adulation  and  po- 
litical craft.  He  was  now  to  further  prove  his  skill,  and  to  verify  the 
warnings  of  Nitta  and  the  ministers.  The  emperor  made  Moriyoshi,  his 
own  son,  shogun.  Ashikaga,  jealous  of  the  appointment,  and  having 
too  ready  access  to  the  infatuated  father's  ear,  told  him  that  his  son 
was  plotting  to  get  possession  of  the  throne.  Moriyoshi,  hating  the 
flatterer,  and  stung  to  rage  by  the  base  slander,  marched  against  him. 

Ashikaga  now  succeeded  by  means  of  his  ally  in  the  imperial  bed 
in  making  himself,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Mikado,  the  first  victim  to  the 
conspiracies  of  the  prince.  So  great  was  his  power  over  the  emperor 
that  he  obtained  from  the  imperial  hand  a  decree  to  punish  his  enemy 
Moriyoshi  as  a  "choteki,"  or  rebel,  against  the  Mikado. 

The  Emperor  AU-Powerful. 

Here  we  have  a  striking  instance  of  what,  in  the  game  of  Japanese 
stati-craft  may  be  called  the  checkmate  move,  or,  in  the  native  idiom, 
*'Ote,"  "king's  hand."  It  is  difficult  for  a  foreigner  to  fully  appreciate 
the  prestige  attaching  to  the  Mikado's  person — a  prestige  never  dimin- 
ishing. No  matter  how  low  his  actual  measure  of  power,  the  meanness 
of  his  character,  or  the  insignificance  of  his  personal  abilities,  he  was 
the  Son  of  Heaven,  his  word  was  law,  his  commands  omnipotent. 

He  was  the  fountain  of  all  rank  and  authority.  No  military  leader, 
however  great  his  resources  or"  ability,  could  win  the  popular  heart  or 
hope  for  ultimate  success  unless  appointed  by  the  emperor.  He  who- 
held  the  Son  of  Heaven  in  his  power  was  his  master.  Hence  it  was  the 
constant  aim  of  all  the  military  leaders,  even  down  to  1868,  to  obtaia 
control  of  the  imperial  person. 


68  INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS. 

However  wicked  or  villainous  the  keeper  of  the  Mikado,  he  was- 
master  of  the  situation.     His  enemies  were  choteki  against  the  Son  of 
Heaven;  his  own  soldiers  were  the  "kuan-gun,"  or  royal  army.     Even 
might  could  not  make  right.    Possession  of  the  divine  person  was  more 
than  nine-tenths — it  was  the  whole — of  the  law. 

Murder  of  the  King's  Son. 

Moriyoshi,  then,  being  choteki,  was  doomed.  Ashikaga,  having  the 
imperial  order,  had  the  kuan-gun,  and  was  destined  to  win.  The  sad 
fate  of  the  emperor's  son  awakens  feelings,  and  brings  tears  to  the  eyes 
of  the  Japanese  reader  even  to  the  present  day.  He  was  seized,  deposed, 
sent  to  Kamakura,  and  murdered  in  a  subterranean  dungeon  in  the 
seventh  month  of  the  year  1335. 

His  child  in  exile,  the  heart  of  the  emperor  relented.  The  scales 
fell  from  his  eyes.  He  saw  that  he  had  wrongly  suspected  his  son,  and 
that  the  real  traitor  was  Ashikaga.  The  latter,  noticing  the  change 
that  had  come  over  his  master,  left  Kioto  secretly,  followed  by  thou- 
sands of  the  disaffected  soldiery,  and  fled  to  Kamakura,  which  he  had 
rebuilt,  and  began  to  consolidate  his  forces  with  a  view  of  again  erect- 
ing the  eastern  capital,  and  seizing  the  power  formerly  held  by  the 
Hojo. 

Nitta  had  also  been  accused  by  Ashikaga,  but  having  cleared  himself 
in  a  petition  to  the  mikado,  he  received  the  imperial  commission  to 
chastise  his  rival.  In  the  campaign  which  followed,  the  imperial  forces 
were  so  hopelessly  defeated  that  the  quandam  imperial  exile  now  became 
a  fugitive.  With  his  loyal  followers  he  left  Kioto,  carrying  with  him  the 
sacred  emblems  of  authority. 

Allegiance  of  the  People  Divided. 
Ashikaga,  though  a  triumphant  victor,  occupied  a  critical  position. 
He  was  a  choteki.  As  such  he  could  never  win  success.  He  had  power 
and  resources,  but,  unlike  others  equally  usurpers,  was  not  clothed  with 
authority.  He  was,  in  popular  estimation,  a  rebel  of  the  deepest  dye. 
In  such  a  predicament  he  could  not  safely  remain  a  day.  The  people 
would  take  the  side  of  the  emperor. 


INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS.  69 

What  should  he  do?  His  vigor,  astuteness  and  villainy  were  equal. 
The  Hojo  had  deposed  and  set  up  emperors.  It  was  Ashikaga  who 
divided  the  allegiance  of  the  people,  gave  Japan  a  "War  of  the  Roses" 
(or  Chrysanthemums),  tilled  the  soil  of  feudalism  and  lighted  the 
flames  of  war  that  made  Kioto  a  cock-pit,  abandoned  the  land  for  nearly 
two  centuries  and  a  half  to  slaughter,  ignorance,  and  paralysis  of 
national  progress. 

To  clothe  his  acts  with  right,  he  made  a  new  Son  of  Heaven.  He 
declared  Kogen,  who  was  of  the  royal  family,  emperor.  In  1336,  this 
new  Son  of  Heaven  gave  Ashikaga  the  title  of  Sei-i  Tai  Shogun. 
Kamakura  again  became  the  military  capital.  The  duarchy  was  re- 
stored, and  the  War  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Dynasties  began, 
which  lasted  fifty-six  years. 

The  Temporary  Mikadoate. 

The  period  of  1333-1336,  though  including  little  more  than  two  years 
of  time,  is  of  great  significance  as  marking  the  existence  of  a  temporary 
mikadoate.  The  fact  that  it  lasted  so  short  a  time,  and  that  the  duarchy 
was  again  set  up  on  its  ruins,  has  furnished  both  natives  and  foreigners 
with  the  absurd  and  specious,  but  strongly  urged  argument  that  the 
Government  of  Japan,  by  a  single  ruler  from  a  single  centre,  is  an 
impossibility,  and  that  the  creation  of  a  dual  system  with  a  "spiritual" 
or  nominal  sovereign  in  one  part  of  the  empire,  and  a  military  or 
"secular"  ruler  in  another,  is  a  necessity. 

During  the  agitation  of  the  question  concerning  the  abolition  of  the 
dual  system,  and  the  restoration  of  the  mikado  in  1860-1868,  one  of  the 
chief  arguments  of  the  adherents  of  the  shogunate  against  the  scheme  of 
the  agitators  was  the  assertion  that  the  events  of  the  period  1333-1336 
proved  that  the  mikado  could  not  alone  govern  the  country,  and  that 
it  must  have  duarchy. 

Even  after  the  overthrow  of  the  shogun  Keiki,  known  as  the 
"Tycoon,"  in  1868,  foreigners,  as  well  as  natives,  who  had  studied  Jap- 
anese history,  fully  believed  and  expected  that  in  a  year  or  two  the 
present  mikado's  Government  would  be  overthrov.n  and  the  "Tycoon" 


;o  INVASION   OF  THE   MONGOL  TARTARS. 

return  to  power,  basing  their  belief  on  the  fact  that  the  mikadoate  of 
1333-1336  did  not  last. 

Whatever  force  such  an  argument  might  have  had  when  Japan  nad' 
no  foreign  relations,  and  no  aliens  on  her  soil  to  disturb  the  balance 
between  Kioto  and  Kamakura,  it  is  certain  that  it  counts  for  naught 
when,  under  altered  conditions,  more  than  the  united  form  of  the  whole 
empire  is  now  required  to  cope  with  the  political  pressure  from  without. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  WAR  OF  THE  CHRYSANTHEMUMS 

Divine  Origin  of  the  Mikado — Violent  Hands  Never  Laid  Upon  the  Emperor's  Person — 
Two  Mikados — The  North  Against  the  South — National  Heroes — Kusunoki,  the  Brave 
— Lust  for  Land  and  War — The  Succession  Settled — Complete  List  of  Mikados. 

THE  dynasty  of  the  imperial  rulers  is  the  oldest  in  the  world.  No 
other  family  line  extends  so  far  back  into  the  remote  ages  as  the 
nameless  family  of  mikados.  Disdaining  to  have  a  family  name,  claim- 
ing descent,  not  from  mortals,  but  from  the  heavenly  gods,  the  imperial 
house  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Rising  Sun  occupies  a  throne  which  no 
plebian  has  ever  attempted  to  usurp. 

Throughout  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  imperial  line,  in  plentitude  of 
power  or  abasement  of  poverty,  its  members  deposed  or  set  up  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  upstart  or  political  robber,  the  throne  itself  has  remained 
unshaken.  Unclean  hands  have  not  been  laid  upon  the  ark  itself.  As  in 
the  procession  of  life  on  the  globe  the  individual  perishes,  the  species 
lives  on,  so,  though  individual  mikados  have  been  dethroned,  insulted 
or  exiled,  the  prestige  of  the  line  has  never  swerved.  * 

Enshrined  in  the  Hearts  of  His  Countrjmien. 

The  soldier  who  would  begin  revolution,  or  who  lusted  for  power, 
would  make  the  mikado  his  tool;  but,  however  transcendent  his  genius 
and  abilities,  he  never  attempted  to  write  himself  mikado.  No  Japanese 
Caesar  ever  had  his  Brutus,  nor  Charles  his  Cromwell,  nor  George  his 
Washington. 

Not  even,  as  in  China,  did  one  dynasty  of  alien  blood  overthrow  an- 
other, and  reign  in  the  stead  of  a  destroyed  family.  Such  events  are 
unknown  in  Japanese  annals.     The  student  of  his  people,   and  their 

71 


/^ 


WAR   OF   THE   CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 


unique  history  can  never  understand  them  or  their  national  life  unless 
he  measures  the  mightiness  of  the  force,  and  recognizes  the  place  of  the 
throne  and  the  mikado  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people. 

The  Japanese  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

There  are  on  record  instances  in  which  the  true  heirship  was  de- 
clared only  after  bitter  intrigue,  quarrels,  or  even  bloodshed.  In  the 
tenth  century,  Taira  no  Masakado  disappointed  in  not  being  appointed 
Dai  Jo  Dai  Jin,  left  Kioto,  went  to  Shimosa  in  the  Kuanto,  and  set  him- 
self up  as  Shinno,  or  cadet  of  the  imperial  line,  and  temporarily  ruled 
the  eight  provinces  of  the  East  as  a  pseudo-mikado. 

In  1 139,  the  military  families  of  Taira  and  Minamoto  came  to  blows 
in  Kioto  over  the  question  of  succession  between  the  rival  heirs,  Shutoku 
and  Go-Shirakawa.  The  Taira  being  victors,  their  candidate  became 
mikado.  During  the  decay  of  the  Taira,  they  fled  from  Kioto,  carrying 
with  them,  as  true  emperor,  with  his  suite  and  the  sacred  insignia,  An- 
toku,  the  child,  five  years  old,  who  was  drowned  in  the  sea  when  the 
Taira  were  destroyed.  The  Minamoto  at  the  same  time  recognized 
Gotoba. 

It  may  be  more  analogical  to  call  the  wars  of  the  Gen  and  Hei,  with 
their  white  and  red  flags,  the  Japanese  Wars  of  the  Roses.  Theirs  was 
the  struggle  of  rival  houses.  Now,  we  are  to  speak  of  rival  dynasties, 
each  with  the  imperial  chr^'^santhemum. 

Two  Mikados  in  the  Field. 

In  the  time  of  the  early  Ashikagas  (1336-1390)  there  were  two 
mikados  ruling,  or  attempting  to  rule,  in  Japan.  The  Emperor  Go.- 
Daigo  had  chosen  his  son  Kuniyoshi  as  his  heir,  but  the  latter  died  in 
1326.  Kogen,  son  of  the  mikado  Go-Fushimi  (1299-1301),  was  then 
made^  heir.  Go-Daigo's  third  son,  Moryoshi,  however,  as  he  grew  up, 
showed  great  talent,  and  his  father  regretted  that  he  had  consented  to 
the  choice  of  Kogen,  and  wished  his  own  son  to  succeed  him. 

He  referred  the  matter  to  Hojo  at  Kamakura,  who  disapproved  of 
the  plan.    Those  who  hated  Hojo  called  Kogen  the  "false  emperor,"  re- 


WAR   OF   THE   CHRYSANTHEMUMS.  n 

fusing-  to  acknowledge  him.  When  Nitta  destroyed  Kamakiira,  and 
Go-Daigo  was  restored,  Kogen  retired  to  obscurity.  No  one  for  a  mo- 
ment thought  of  or  acknowledged  any  one  but  Go-Daigo  as  true  and 
only  mikado.  When,  however,  Ashikaga,  by  his  treachery,  had  alienated 
the  emperor  from  him,  and  was  without  imperial  favor,  and  liable  to 
punishment  as  a  rebel,  he  found  out  and  set  up  Kogen  as  mikado,  and 
proclaimed  him  sovereign.     Civil  war  then  broke  out. 

A  Story  of  Bloodshed  and  Treachery. 

Into  the  details  of  the  war  between  the  adherents  of  the  Northern 
emperor,  Ashikaga,  with  his  followers,  on  the  one  side,  and  Go-Daigo, 
who  held  the  insignia  of  authority,  backed  by  a  brilliant  array  of  names 
famous  among  the  Japanese,  on  the  other,  I  do  not  propose  to  enter.  It 
is  a  confused  and  sickening  story  of  loyalty  and  treachery,  battle,  mur- 
der, pillage,  fire,  famine,  poverty,  and  misery,  such  as  make  up  the  pic- 
ture of  civil  wars  in  every  country.  Occasionally  in  this  period  a  noble 
deed  or  typical  character  shines  forth  for  the  admiration  or  example 
of  succeeding  generations.  Among  these  none  have  exhibited  more 
nobly  man's  possible  greatness  in  the  hour  of  death  than  Nitta  Yoshi- 
sada  and  Kusunoki  Masashige. 

Heroism  of  Nitta. 

On  one  occasion  the  army  of  Nitta,  who  was  fighting  under  the  flag 
of  Go-Daigo,  the  true  emperor,  was  encamped  before  that  of  Ashikaga. 
To  save  further  slaughter,  Nitta  sallied  out  alone,  and,  approaching  his 
enemy's  camp,  cried  out :  "The  war  in  the  country  continues  long.  Al- 
though this  has  arisen  from  the  rivalry  of  two  emperors,  yet  its  issue 
depends  solely  upon  you  and  me.  Rather  than  millions  of  the  people 
should  be  involved  in  distress,  let  us  determine  the  question  by  single 
combat," 

The  retainers  of  Ashikaka  prevailed  on  their  commander  not  to 
accept  the  challenge.  In  1338,  on  the  second  day  of  the  Seventh  month, 
while  marching  with  about  fifty  follov/ers  to  assist  in  investing  a  fortress 
in  Echizen,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  in  a  narrow  path  in  a  rice-field 


74  WAR   OF   THE   CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 

near  Fukui  by  about  three  thousand  of  the  enemy,  and  exposed  without 
shields  to  a  shower  of  arrows.  Some  one  begged  Nitta,  as  he  was 
mounted,  to  escape. 

''It  is  not  my  desire  to  survive  my  companions  slain,"  was  his  re- 
sponse. Whipping  up  his  horse,  he  rode  forward  to  engage  with  his 
sword,  making  himself  the  target  for  a  hundred  archers.  His  horse, 
struck  when  at  full  speed  by  an  arrow,  fell.  Nitta,  on  clearing  himself 
and  rising,  was  hit  between  the  eyes  with  a  white-feathered  shaft,  and 
mortally  wounded.  Drawing  his  sword,  he  cut  off  his  own  head — a  feat 
which  the  warriors  of  that  time  were  trained  to  perform — so  that  his 
enemies  might  not  recognize  hirti. 

Death  Rather  Than  Dishonor. 

He  was  thirty-eight  years  old.  His  brave  little  band  were  slain  by. 
arrows,  or  killed  themselves  with  their  own  hand,  that  they  might  die 
with  their  master.  The  enemy  could  not  recognize  Nitta,  until  they 
iound,  beneath  a  pile  of  corpses  of  men  who  had  committed  hara-kiri,  a 
body  on  which,  inclosed  in  a  damask  bag,  was  a  letter  containing  the 
imperial  commission  in  Go-Daigo's  handwriting,  "I  invest  you  with  all 
power  to  subjugate  the  rebels." 

Then  they  knew  the  corpse  to  be  that  of  Nitta.  His  head  was  carried 
to  Kioto,  then  in  possession  of  Ashikaka,  and  exposed  in  public  on  a 
pillory.  The  tomb  of  this  brave  man  stands,  carefully  watched  and 
tended,  near  Fukui,  in  Echizen,  hard  by  the  very  spot  where  he  fell.  A 
shrine  and  monument  were  erected  in  his  native  place  during  the  year 

1875. 

The  Story  of  Kusunoki. 

The  brave  Kusunoki,  after  a  lost  battle  at  Minatogawa,  near  Hiogo, 
having  suffered  continual  defeat,  his  counsels  having  been  set  at  naught, 
and  his  advice  rejected,  felt  that  life  was  no  longer  honorable,  and 
solemnly  resolved  to  die  in  unsullied  reputation  and  with  a  soldier's 
honor.  Sorrowfully  bidding  his  wife  and  infant  children  good-bye,  he 
xralmly  committed  hara-kiri,  an  example  which  his  comrades,  number- 
ing one  hundred  and  fifty,  bravely  followed. 


WAR   OF   THE    CHRYSANTHEMUMS.  75 

Kusunoki  Masashige  was  one  of  an  honorable  family  who  dwelt  in 
Kawachi,  and  traced  their  descent  to  the  great-grandson  of  the  thirty- 
second  mikado,  Bidatsu  (A.  D.  572-585).  The  family  name,  Kusunoki 
(''Camphor"),  was  given  his  people  from  the  fact  that  a  grove  of  cam- 
phor-trees adorned  the  ancestral  gardens  of  the  mansion.  The  twelfth 
in  descent  was  the  Vice-governor  of  lyo.  The  father  of  Masashige  held 
land  possessed  at  two  thousand  "koku."  His  mother,  desiring  a  child, 
prayed  to  the  god  Bishamon  for  one  hundred  days,  and  Masashige  was 
born  after  a  pregnancy  of  fourteen  months. 

The  mother,  in  devout  gratitude,  named  the  boy  Tamon  (the  Sans- 
krit name  of  Bishamon),  after  the  god  who  had  heard  her  prayers.  The 
man-child  was  very  strong,  and  at  seven  could  throw  boys  of  fifteen  at 
wrestling.  He  received  his  education  in  the  Chinese  classics  from  the 
priests  in  the  temple,  and  exercised  himself  in  all  manly  and  warlike  arts. 
In  his  twelfth  year  he  cut  off  the  head  of  an  enemy,  and  at  fifteen  studied 
the  Chinese  military  art,  and  made  it  the  solemn  purpose  of  his  life  to 
overthrow  the  Kamakura  usurpation,  and  restore  the  mikado  to  his 
power. 

A  Lost  Opportunity. 

In  1830,  he  took  up  arms  for  Go-Daigo.  He  was  several  times  be- 
sieged by  the  Hojo  armies,  but  was  finally  victorious  with  Nitta  and 
Ashikaga.  When  the  latter  became  a  rebel,  defeated  Nitta,  and  entered 
Kioto  in  force,  Kusunoki  joined  Nitta,  and  thrice  drove  out  the  troops 
of  Ashikaga  from  the  capital.  The  latter  then  fied  to  the  West,  and 
Kusunoki  advised  the  imperialist  generals  to  follow  them  up  and  annihi- 
late the  rebellion.  His  superiors,  with  criminal  levity,  neglecting  to  do 
this,  the  rebels  collected  together,  and  again  advanced,  with  increased 
strength  by  land  and  water,  against  Kioto,  having,  it  is  said,  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men. 

Kusunoki's  plan  of  operations  was  rejected,  and  his  advice  ignored. 
With  Nitta  he  was  compelled  to  bear  the  brunt  of  battle  against  over- 
whelming forces  at  Minato  gawa',  near  Hiogo,  and  was  there  hopelessly 
defeated.    Kusunoki,  now*  feeling  that  he  had  done  all  that  was  possible 


76  WAR   OF   THE    CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 

to  a  subordinate,  and  that  life  was  no  longer  honorable,  retired  to  a 
farmer's  house  at  the  village  of  Sakurai,  and  there,  giving  him  the  sword 
bestowed  on  himself  by  the  mikado,  admonished  his  son  Masatsura  to 
follow  the  soldier's  calling,  cherish  his  father's  memory,  and  avenge  his 
father's  death.  Sixteen  of  his  relatives,  with  unquailing  courage,  like- 
wise followed  their  master  in  death. 

A  Patriot  of  the  Highest  Type, 

Of  all  the  characters  in  Japanese  history,  that  of  Kusunoki  Masa- 
shige  stands  pre-eminent  for  pureness  of  patriotism,  unselfishness  of  de- 
votion to  duty,  and  calmness  of  courage.  The  people  speak  of  him  in 
tones  of  reverential  tenderness,  and,  with  an  admiration  that  lacks  fitting 
words,  behold  in  him  the  mirror  of  stainless  loyalty.  Every  relic  of  this 
brave  man  is  treasured  up  with  religious  care;  and  fans  inscribed  with 
poems  written  by  him,  in  fac-simile  of  his  handwriting,  are  sold  in  the 
shops  and  used  by  those  who  burn  to  imitate  his  exalted  patriotism. 
His  son  Masatsura  lived  to  become  a  gallant  soldier. 

The  war,  which  at  first  was  waged  with  the  clearly  defined  object 
of  settling  the  question  of  the  supremacy  of  the  rival  mikados,  gradually 
lost  its  true  character,  and  finally  degenerated  into  a  free  fight  on  a 
national  scale.  Before  peace  was  finally  declared,  all  the  original  leaders 
had  died,  and  the  prime  object  had  been,  in  a  great  measure,  forgotten 
in  the  lust  for  land  and  war.  Even  the  rival  emperors  lost  much  of 
their  interest,  as  they  had  no  concern  in  brawls  by  which  petty  chieftains 
sought  to  exalt  their  own  name,  and  increase  their  territory  by  robbing 
their  neighbors. 

Abdication  and  Coronation. 

In  1392,  an  envoy  from  Ashikaga  persuaded  Go-Kameyama  to  come 
to  Kioto  and  hand  over  the  regalia  to  Go-Komatsu,  the  Northern  em- 
peror. The  basis  of  peace  was  that  Go-Kameyana  should  receive  the 
title  of  Dai  Jo  Tenno  (ex-emperor),  Go-Komatsu  be  declared  emperor, 
and  the  throne  be  occupied  alternately  by  the  rival  branches  of  the  im- 
perial family. 


WAR   OF   THE    CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 


77 


The  ceremony  of  abdication  of  surrender  of  regalia,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  investiture,  on  the  other,  were  celebrated  with  due  pomp  and 
solemnity  in  one  of  the  great  temples  in  the  capital,  and  the  war  of 
fifty-six  years'  duration  ceased.  All  this  redounded  to  the  glory  and 
power  of  Ashikaga. 

The  period  of  1336-1392  is  of  great  interest  in  the  eyes  of  all  native 
students  of  Japanese  history.  In  the  Dai  Nihon  Shi,  the  Southern  dy- 
nasty are  defended  as  the  legitimate  sovereigns,  and  the  true  descendants 
of  Ten  Sho  Dai  Jin,  the  sun-goddess;  and  the  Northern  dynasty  are 
condemned  as  mere  usurpers. 

The  same  view  was  taken  by  Kitabatake  Chikafusa,  who  was  the 
author  of  the  Japanese  Red  Book,  who  warned  the  emperor  Go-Daigo 
against  Ashikaga,  and  in  1339  wrote  a  book  to  prove  that  Go-Daigo  was 
mikado,  and  the  Ashikaga's  nominee  a  usurper.  This  is  the  view  now 
held  in  modern  Japan,  and  only  those  historians  of  the  period  who  award 
legitimacy  to  the  Southern  dynasty  are  considered  authoritative.  The 
Northern  branch  of  the  imperial  family  after  a  few  generations  became 
extinct. 

The  Mikados  of  Japan. 


Jimmu   Emperor  660  B.  C. 

Suisei   Emperor  581  B.  C. 

Annei  Emperor  548  B.  C. 

Itoku    Emperor  510  B.  C. 

Koshio Emperor  475  B.  C. 

Koan Emperor  392  B.  C. 

Korei   Emperor  290  B.  C. 

Kogen    Emperor  214  B.  C. 

Kaikua    Emperor  157  B.  C. 

Sujin    Emperor    97  B.  C. 

Suinin   Emperor    29  B.  C. 

Keiko    Elmperor    71  A.  D. 

Seimu   Emperor  131  A.  D. 

Chuai  Emperor  192  A.  D. 

Jingu-Kogo Empress  201  A.  D. 

Ojra    Emperor  270  A.  D. 

Nintoku    Elmperor  313  A.  D. 

Richiu  Emperor  400  A.  D. 

Hansho  Emperor  405  A.  D. 

Inkyo    Emperor  411  A.  D. 


Anko  Emperor  453  A.  D. 

Yuriaku    Emperor  456  A.  D. 

Seinei Emperor  480  A.  D. 

Kenso  Emperor  485  A.  D. 

Ninken   Elraperor  488  A.  D. 

Buretsu    Emperor  499  A.  D. 

Ketai   Emperor  507  A.  D. 

Ankan  Emperor  534  A.  D, 

Senkuwa  Emperor  536  A.  D. 

Kimmei-Tenno Emperor  540  A.  D. 

Bitatsu-Tenno    Emperor  572  A.  D. 

Yoraei  Emperor  586  A.  D. 

Sushun   Emperor  588  A.  D. 

Suiko-Tenno    Empress  503  A.  D. 

Yomei    Emperor  629  A.  D. 

Kokioku   Empress  642  A.  D. 

Kotoku   Emperor  645  A.  D. 

Saimei,  the  name  assumed  by  ex- 
Empress  Kokioku  when  she 
resumed  the  crown 655  A.  D. 


78 


WAR   OF   THE    CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 


Tenji  Emperor  668  A.  D. 

Kobun    Emperor  572  A.  D. 

Temmu   Emperor  673  A.  D. 

Jito-Tenno   Empress  690  A.  D. 

Mommu    Emperor  697  A.  D. 

Gemmei  Empress  708  A.  D. 

Gensho   Empress  715  A.  D. 

Shomu    Emperor  724  A.  D. 

Koken   Empress  749  A.  D. 

Jungin-Temio  Emperor  759  A.  D. 

Ex-Empress  resumed  throne  as 
Koken-Shotoku    765  A.  D. 

Konin,  grandson  of  Tenji,  Em- 
peror     T]o  A  D. 

Kuwammu   .'. Emperor  782  A.  D. 

Heizei    Emperor  806  A.  D. 

Saga  Emperor  810  A.  D. 

Junna    Emperor  824  A.  D. 

Nimmio Emperor  834  A.  D. 

Montoku  Emperor  851  A.  D. 

Seiwa    Emperor  859  A.  D. 

Yozei    Emperor  877  A.  D. 

Koko   Emperor  885  A.  D. 

Uda  Emperor  893  A.  D. 

Daigo    Emperor  898  A.  D. 

Shujaku    Emperor  931  A.  D. 

Murakami    Emperor  947  A.  D. 

Reizei   Emperor  968  A.  D. 

Enyu   Emperor  970  A.  D. 

Kuwazan   Emperor  985  A.  D. 

Ichijo   Emperor  987  A.  D. 

Sanjo  Emperor  1012  A, 

Go-Ichijo  Emperor  1017  A. 

Go- Shujaku  Emperor  1038  A, 

Go-Reizei  Emperor  1046  A. 

Go-Sanjo  Emperor  1069  A.  D. 

Shirakawa  Emperor  1073  A.  D. 

Horikawa  Emperor  1087  A.  D. 

Toba   Emperor  1108  A.  D. 

Shutoku   Emperor  1 124  A.  D. 

Konoye  Emperor  1 142  A.  D. 

Go-Shirakawa    Emperor  1156  A.  D. 

Nijo  Emperor  1159  A.  D. 

Rokujio    Emperor  1 166  A.  D. 

Takakura  Emperor  1 169  A.  D, 


D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 


Antoku   Emperor 

Go-Toba  Emperor 

Tsuchi-Mikado  Emperor 

Juntoku Emperor 

Chukio    Emperor 

Go-Horikawa   Emperor 

Shijo Emperor 

Go-Saga Emperor 

Go-Fukakusa  Emperor 

Kame-Yama   Emperor 

Go-Uda    Emperor 

Fushimi    Emperor 

Go-Fushimi  Emperor 

Go-Nijo   Emperor 

Hanazono  Emperor 

Go-Daigo   Emperor 

Komio  Tenno  Emperor 

Go-Murakami    Tenno.. .Emperor 

Shuko   Emperor 

Go-Kuwoogon    Emperor 

Go-Kame-Yama    Emperor 

Go-Enyu    Emperor 

Go-Komatsu    Emperor 

Shoko   Emperor 

Go-Hanazono   Emperor 

Go-Tsuchi-Mikado. ..    Emperor 

Go-Kashiwabara Emperor 

Go-Nara  Emperor 

Oki  Machi  Emperor 

Go-Yozei-Tenno    ....   Emperor 

Go-Miwa   Emperor 

Miosho    Empress 

Go- Komio   Emperor 

Gozai-in   Emperor 

Reizen  Emperor 

Higashiyama    Emperor 

Naka-Mikado   Emperor 

Sakura-Machi  Emperor 

Momozono  Emperor 

Go-Sakura  Machi....    Empress 

Go-Momozono   Emperor 

Kokaku    Emperor 

Niako   Emperor 

Komei  Emperor 

Mutsuhito   Emperor 


181  A.  D. 
186  A.  I>. 
199  A.  D. 
;2ii  A.  D. 
221  A.  D. 
221  A.  D, 
231  A.  D. 
244  A.  D. 
247  A.  D. 
266  A.  D.. 
270  A,  D. 
288  A.  D. 
299  A.  D. 
301  A.  D. 
308  A.  D. 
319  A.  D. 
ZZ(^  A.  D. 
339  A.  D. 
349  A.  D. 
352  A.  D. 
368  A.  D. 
372  A.  D. 
393  A.  D. 

413  A.  a 

429  A.  D. 
465  A.  D. 
:Soi  A.  D. 
527  A.  D, 
558  A.  D. 
587  A.  D. 
612  A.  D 
630  A.  D: 
644  A.  D. 
:65s  A.  D. 
663  A.  D, 
[687  A.  D. 
710  A.  D. 
A.  D. 
A.  D. 
-jdZ  A.  D, 
771  A.  D, 
A.D, 
A.I>, 
A.  D. 
A.  D. 


736 
747 


780 
817 
847 
t867 


CHAPTER  VI. 
RISE  AS  A  MODERN  POWER 

The  Climate  and  Flora  of  Japan — The  Fuji-San — Origin  of  the  Japanese  Race — The 
"Feathered  Men" — Peculiarities  of  the  Japanese  Language — Energetic  Japanese 
Empresses — The  Avolition  of  Christianity — The  Ancient  Authority  of  the  Mikado 
Triumphs. 

ENTWINED  in  the  limpid  arms  of  the  great  Pacific  Ocean  lies  a 
clustering  chain  of  over  three  thousand  islands,  called  by  its  an- 
cient inhabitants — from  its  fancied  resemblance  to  a  dragon-fly — "Siet- 
Eish-Ieu," — the  "Dragon-Fly  Land."  Also,  owing  to  its  position  in 
the  extreme  East,  it  has  been  named  "Dai  Nippon,"  or  "Birthplace  of 
the  Sun." 

Fair  As  the  Garden  of  the  Lord. 

This  ocean  home  of  the  rising  sun,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots 
on  our  globe,  with  its  endless  line  of  foam-fringed  coast,  its  rich  plains 
and  fertile  valleys,  its  green  hill  slopes  and  forest-clad  mountains  tower- 
ing one  above  the  other  in  grandeur,  and  its  picturesque  harbors,  safe 
and  lovely.  It  has  a  cold,  crisp,  bracing  climate  in  winter,  with  not  too 
fervid  a  sun  in  summer.  It  has  a  magnificent  flora  of  over  one  hundred 
and  fifty  evergreens  alone,  and  no  end  of  rare  deciduous  trees — the 
camphor,  the  wax,  the  violet-scented  paulownia,  the  pomegranate,  the 
cotton,  and  wax  tree,  the  magnolia,  the  chestnut,  maple,  pear,  cherry, 
plum,  peach,  apple,  myrtle,  orange,  with  an  endless  variety  of  flow- 
ers— camelias,  lilies,  roses,  side  by  side  with  the  azalea  and  the  mikado's 
armorial  flower,  the  chrysanthemum.  The  glory  of  autumn  foliage  is 
unrivalled  except  by  that  of  North  America. 

But  of  all  beautiful  objects  of  nature  in  Japan  the  most  famous  is  the 
volcanic  mountain,  Fuji-san,  or  "Heaven  Seeker,"  often  written  Fuji- 

79 


8o  RISE  AS   A   MODERN    POWER. 

yama.  Daily  the  imaginative  children  of  the  great  Nippon  gaze  toward 
this  most  sacred  object.  Its  snow-crowned  peak  towering  in  solitary 
grandeur  guides  thousands  of  devout  pilgrims.  The  devotee  climbs  its 
volcanic  sides,  toiling  and  fasting  and  praying,  and  resting  anon  at  each 
of  the  lava  huts.  When  he  has  reached  its  awful  summit  he  spends  the 
night  at  a  lava  temple,  where  he  abjures  the  past,  and  makes  promise 
of  a  better  future.  Before  dawn,  bathed,  clothed  in  pure  white,  he  sa- 
lutes the  rising  sun  with  a  hymn  of  praise.  He  then  performs  the  circuit 
of  the  lofty  Fuji-san,  gazes  with  awe  on  the  mouth  of  its  crater,  over 
five  hundred  feet  deep,  shaped  like  an  eight-petaled  lotus  flower! 

Celebrated  In  Picture  and  Story. 

Etherealized  by  the  beautiful  story  that  the  lofty  Fuji-san  burnt  its 
great  heart  until  it  took  on  the  shape  of  a  lotus-flower — the  sacred  sym- 
bol of  the- Buddhist  religion  and  which  blooms  for  every  true  Buddhist 
a  divine  meaning — it  is  held  to  be  a  conscious  being,  looking  down  with 
love  and  pity  upon  humanity  toiling  at  its  feet.  Fuji-san  is  celebrated 
by  Japanese  poets  and  artists,  in  song  and  hymn,  in  legends  and  pic- 
tured story,  in  glowing  colors  and  golden  outlines  on  pots,  and  pans, 
trays,  vases,  urns,  incense-burners,  panels,  cabinets,  and  stately  mauso- 
leums. 

Ranking  next  to  Fuji-san  is  the  Biwa  or  "Lute-shaped  Lake,"  said 
to  be  the  twin  sister  of  the  Fuji-san,  both  miraculously  produced  by  the 
same  earthquake. 

Who  Are  the  Japanese? 

This  land,  the  great  Dai  Nippon — corrupted  into  Japan — is  inhabited 
by  the  sunniest  people  on  our  planet.  Their  manners,  customs,  amuse- 
ments, language,  religion,  history,  poetry,  art,  fiction  all  give  us  pictures 
of  a  nation  simple,  joyous,  imaginative,  artistic,  and  neither  too  labori- 
ous, nor  too  superstitiously  religious. 

But  when  we  inquire  who  are  they,  when  come  they,  whjt  at- 
tracted them  to  these  sunny  isles,  when  settled  they  there,  and  how 
are  they  related  to  us  and  to  the  rest  of  our  Asiatic  Cousins — then  we 
find  ourselves  groping  in  the  dark. 


RISE   AS   A   MODERN    POWER.  8l 

To  judge  from  their  mental  and  physical  characteristics,  the  Japanese 
seem  allied  to  several  distinct  races.  The  Mongolian  type  is  everywhere 
prevalent;  the  oblique  eyes  are  common  among  the  aristocracy,  who 
indeed  are  of  pure  Mongolian  descent;  this  form  of  eye  is  held  as  a  dis- 
tinguishing mark  of  beauty.  Nevertheless  there  are  faces  among  them 
strictly  Semitic;  and  there  are  others  of  the  Aryan  type. 

Wholly  Different  From  the  Chinese. 

As  to  customs  they  have  little  in  common  with  the  Chinese.  They 
do  not  dwarf  the  feet  of  their  girls.  The  "pigtail"  is  not  preserved — on 
the  contrary  a  lock  of  hair  is  often  worn  in  front ;  a  shipwrecked  sailor 
escaping  death  invariably  lays  his  front  lock  as  an  offering  on  the  altar 
of  the  sun  goddess  Ise.  The  peculiar  gait  of  the  Chinese  is  never  se^n; 
the  dull  air  is  replaced  by  a  brisk,  off-hand  manner.  In  fact  the  Japanese 
is  unlike  the  typical  Asiatic  who  is  sober,  sedate  and  reflective.  He  is 
far  less  conservative  than  the  Chinese,  more  influenced  by  new  ideas, 
and  has  little  or  no  dread  of  change.    He  is,  in  truth,  an  Asiatic  Yankee. 

In  view  of  these  peculiarities  and  in  the  absence  of  fuller  scientific 
research,  we  conclude  that  the  Japanese,  though  chiefly  of  Turanian 
stock,  are  not  without  some  large  mixture  of  Aryan  blood ;  that  in  their 
formation  as  a  people  they  have  assimilated  some  of  the  finer  qualities 
of  both  the  Turanian  and  Aryan  branches  of  the  human  family;  and  also 
that  they  are  undoubtedly  allied  to  a  very  curious  and  ancient  people 
called  Ainos,  a  race  of  prehistoric  times,  which  is  rapidly  disappearing 
before  Japanese  civilization. 

A  Peculiar  Race. 

When  the  Japanese  took  possession  of  the  beautiful  dragon-fly  shaped 
land  is  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  Search  their  annals,  consider  their 
legends  and  traditions,  question  their  archives  and  historical  books — 
all  we  can  discover  is  that  from  time  Immemorial  there  were  strange 
spectres,  the  "Khon  Bal  Yai,"  or  "Feathered  Men" — which  name  was 
given  them  by  the  Mongolian  invaders,  because  of  the  long,  soft  hair 
with  which  their  bodies  are  covered — and  that  these  were  the  ancient 
people  called  Ainos.    But  how  and  when  the  Ainos  themselves  obtained 


82  RISE   AS   A   MODERN    POWER. 

a  footing  on  the  Dragon-Fly  Land,  is  a  subject  of  deep  mystery  to  the 
ethnologist. 

All  we  know  is  that  the  Ainos,  or  "hairy  Kuriles,"  as  they  are  some- 
times called  (now  mostly  to  be  found  in  the  island  of  Yesso),  once  oc- 
cupied the  greater  part  of  the  country;  and  that  they  were  driven  north 
by  adventurous  races  coming  from  the  southwest.  They  are  smalls 
well-proportioned,  strongly-built,  of  an  Aryan  type  of  countenance,  and 
of  a  singularly  kind  and  gentle  disposition.  Their  women,  however,  ren- 
der themselves  hideous  by  tattooing  their  hairy  bodies  with  grotesque 
figures,  and  letting  the  hair  of  their  heads  fall  over  their  shoulders  to  their 
knees.  The  winter  dress  of  both  sexes  consists  of  robes  of  wild  beast 
skin;  in  summer  of  cotton  tunics  reaching  to  the  knee,  with  a  leathern 
girdle. 

Habits  and  Customs  of  the  Ainos. 

They  now  live  in  communities  of  fifteen  or  twenty  families,  under 
a  patriarchal  chief.  Their  huts  are  of  mud,  thatched  with  dried  leaves^ 
straw,  or  branches  of  trees  plaited  together.  Their  manners  are  bright 
and  cheerful  at  home,  and  extremely  courteous  when  abroad;  they  salute 
one  another  by  bowing  to  the  ground.  Their  judicial  cases  are  presided 
over  by  the  chiefs  of  adjoining  villages;  and  law  is  administered  with 
something  of  the  quiet  dignity  of  a  religious  ceremony. 

Although  they  obtain  from  the  Japanese  rice,  tea,  sugar,  and  many 
other  necessities,  by  bartering  furs  and  skins,  still  the  sounds  of  some 
few  industries  may  be  heard  in  their  villages :  the  thumping  of  the  cloth- 
maker,  the  song  of  the  cord-twister  and  the  net-maker ;  the  elder  women 
turn  the  soft  tree-wool  into  thread  wherewith  to  spin  their  garments, 
the  younger  women  rock  their  children  to  sleep  to  the  wildest  and  most 
plaintive  airs  ever  tuned  by  a  savage  tribe.  The  young  men  are  hunters, 
trappers  and  fishermen. 

When  evening  draws  on  the  Aino  villages  resound  to  the  drum,  bag- 
pipe and  flute,  a  bonfire  crackles  and  flames  on  the  village  common,  an 
itinerant  trader,  or  Shinto  priest  with  his  wondrous  tales  of  the  sun 
goddess  or  demons,  and  heroes,  or  perchance  a  more  civilized  Buddhist 


RISE  AS   A   MODERN    POWER.  83 

missionary,  is  hospitably  regaled  with  the  best  the  village  affords;  the 
Ainos  boys  and  girls,  shy  as  wild  deer,  will  by  degrees  cluster  around 
the  one  or  the  other,  examine  the  peddler's  wares,  listen  to  the  stories 
of  Ise,  the  sun  goddess,  or  sit  drinking  in  the  tale  of  the  good  Buddha 
which  never  fails  to  move  to  love  the  most  savage  of  human  hearts. 

Early  Settlements. 

About  290  B.  C.  settlements  were  founded  on  the  main  islands  of 
Japan  by  Mongols.  They  drove  north  large  numbers  of  the  Ainos,  and 
absorbed  the  more  peaceable  into  their  own  population.  This  invasion 
was  succeeded  by  formidable  ingressions  of  the  ''black  savages"  of 
Japanese  history;  probably  Malay  tribes  from  Papua,  New  Guinea,  or 
Dyacks  from  Borneo  and  the  adjoining  lands.  It  would  seem  that  these 
various  tribes  established  colonies  and,  intermarrying  with  the  Ainos  and 
Mongol  invaders,  became  the  progenitors  of  the  present  Japanese. 

Origin  of  the  Language. 

The  language  of  the  Japanese  has  been  a  source  of  equal  perplexity 
to  the  philologist.  He  is  at  a  loss  to  understand  certain  marks  of  origi- 
nality and  isolation  exhibited  by  this  form  of  speech.  It  shows  traces  of 
an  early  Aryan  influence,  but  such  as  rather  to  deepen  than  to  clear 
up  the  mystery.  One  thing  is  clear — that  if  the  structure  of  the  Japanese 
language  was  fundamentally  Aryan,  the  separation  from  the  parent 
tongue  must  have  taken  place  at  an  early  period,  when  the  Aryan 
branch  of  the  human  speech  was  still  in  its  infancy. 

The  language  is  extremely  melodious  in  sound,  and  vigorous  in  ex- 
pression. It  is  agglutinative — that  is,  it  preserves  its  roots  in  their  simple 
foi'^m.  In  fact  the  peculiarities  of  the  ancient  Japanese  tongue  are  so 
many  that  it  is  difBcult  to  establish  its  true  relationship  to  the  other 
languages  of  the  world.  It  has  been  enriched  since  A.  D.  255  by  the 
adoption  of  Chinese  words,  symbols,  and  written  characters,  much  in 
the  same  way  as  the  English  is  constantly  being  added  to  by  the  bor- 
rowing of  Latin  and  Greek  words  for  literary  and  scientific  purposes. 


^4  RISE  AS   A   MODERN    POWER. 

Style  of  Printing  and  Writing. 

Though  the  written  language  of  the  Japanese  is  exceedingly  pure 
and  classical,  it  is  difficult  to  read,  owing  to  a  complex  style  of  writing 
and  printing.  There  are  in  use  two  styles  of  writing;  the  one  called  the 
square  character — borrowed  from  the  Chinese — is  employed  in  literary 
manuscripts,  official  documents,  and  state  papers;  the  other — -the  run- 
ning or  short  hand — is  used  for  all  ordinary  purposes ;  its  lines  run  per- 
pendicularly and  are  read  downwards,  beginning  with  the  column  to  the 
right  of  the  reader.    Thus  a  Japanese  book  begins  where  our  books  end. 

The  language  shows  one  striking  affinity  with  that  of  the  Turanian 
family — it  possesses  a  complete  dictionary  of  fine-sounding  and  extrava- 
gantly laudatory  terms,  appropriate  to  only  royal  and  noble  persons, 
and  held  too  sacred  for  the  use  of  ordinary  people.  The  language  is 
spoken  with  greater  purity  by  the  Japanese  women  than  by  the  men. 
All  that  we  know  as  yet,  with  regard  to  the  language  of  the  Ainos,  or 
aboriginals,  is,  that  this  ancient  tongue  is  not  now  understood  by  the 
Japanese. 

History  Repeats  Itself. 

The  more  we  study  the  varied  annals  of  India,  Persia,  Phoenicia, 
Egypt,  Palestine,  Arabia,  China,  Thibet,  Korea,  Japan,  the  more  are  we 
struck  with  the  truth  of  that  old  saying:  "History  repeats  itself,"  The 
same  causes  produced  the  same  results  in  Japan  as  in  other  parts  of 
Asia  and  Europe. 

The  Japanese  do  not,  like  the  Chinese,  trace  their  origin  to  a  Dar- 
■wrinian  idea  of  evolution.  Like  the  Hindoos,  Persians,  and  Jews,  they 
claim  to  have  been  created  by  a  Supreme  Being;  to  be  the  offspring 
cf  two  celestial  persons,  Izanagi  and  Izanami.  The  emperors  pretend 
to  a  direct  descent  from  the  beautiful  sun-goddesses  Amaterasu  and  Ise. 
The  sacred  histories  of  Japan,  ignoring  the  fact  that  the  Ainos  were  the 
aboriginal  population  ol  Japan,  relate  with  much  detail  that  about  660 
B.  C.  Jimmu  Tenno,  the  Son  of  Heaven,  or  first  mikado,  began  his  reign. 

His  immediate  ancestors  were  created  somehow  or  other  in  that  re- 


RISE   AS   A   MODERN    POWER.  .  85 

fulgent  orb,  the  sun,  floated  down  to  the  earth,  were  deposited  on  a 
high  mountain  in  the  Dragon-Fly  Land  and  furnished  with  the  three 
insignia  of  their  solar  origin — the  sacred  metalhc  mirror  which  reflects 
their  celestial  birth  (now  preserved  in  one  of  the  temples  of  Ise),  the 
sword  of  retribution  to  enable  them  to  punish  evil-doers  (now  treasured 
in  the  magnificent  temples  of  Askasa),  and  the  ball  of  crystal,  emblem 
of  eternity  (in  the  possession  of  the  present  emperor.) 

Thus  from  time  long  past  the  mikado  was  held  too  sacred  for  or- 
dinary mortals  to  approach.  Only  a  few  trusted  individuals  were  al- 
lowed to  see  and  converse  with  him.  As  for  the  government  of  his 
kingdom  he  was  far  too  holy  to  attend  to  such  sublunary  affairs.  Hence 
he  gradually  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  divine  being,  fit  only  to  be  en- 
shrined and  worshiped,  while  the  princes  aided  by  the  empresses  of 
Japan  administered  the  affairs  of  the  country. 

Royal  Women  Workers. 

Naturally  the  empresses  became  energetic  and  powerful  rulers ;  the 
divinity  of  their  lords  and  masters  seems  to  have  stimulated  rather 
than  to  have  blunted  their  zeal  in  promoting  the  material  prosperity 
of  their  country.  These  royal  women  superintended  the  building  of  cities, 
bridges,  temples,  ships  and  harbors;  they  reformed  the  ancient  laws, 
started  agricultural  industries,  patronized  the  manufacture  of  silk,  cot- 
ton and  fine  crepe  stuffs,  and  even  caused  good  roads  to  be  laid  out  where 
the  foot  of  man  had  never  trodden. 

In  the  first  century  of  our  era  a  Japanese  empress  had  her  first-bora 
son  instructed  in  all  civil  and  military  exercises.  When  he  had  finished 
his  schools,  she  placed  him  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  trained  men 
and  sent  him  to  the  north,  commanding  him  not  to  return  until  he  had 
subjugated  the  rebellious  Ainos,  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  the 
Japanese  government.  Yamato  Dhake,  as  brave  a  man  as  he  was  an 
obedient  son,  carried  out  the  queen-mother's  instructions,  and  having 
subdued  the  rebels,  acted  with  such  good  judgment  and  clemency  that 
he  induced  the  Ainos  chiefs  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  his  en- 
shrined father,  the  Mikado  Keiko,  and  was  himself  so  loved  and  rev- 


86  RISE  AS   A   MODERN   POWER. 

crenced  that  he  is  to  this  day  worshiped  as  a  pure  deity  by  the  simple- 
hearted  Ainos. 

Two  centuries  later  another  Japanese  empress,  the  beautiful  Jeengho, 
exasperated  by  the  ravages  on  her  country  of  vast  bodies  of  Korean 
pirates,  placed  herself  and  her  son,  the  Prince  Ohjeeu,  at  the  head  of 
an  army,  sailed  across  the  straits  of  Korea,  invaded  that  exclusive  land, 
reduced  to  submission  its  king  and  returned  home  triumphant,  bringing 
back  with  her  from  the  Chosen  Land  the  firs.t  books  ever  seen  in  Japan ; 
but  the  crowning  act  of  her  life  was  her  conversion  to  Buddhism  and 
the  encouragement  she  gave  to  Buddhist  missionaries  to  teach  the  hu- 
manizing religion  of  the  Indian  saint. 

Embracing  a  New  Religion. 

Then  was  witnessed  the  sight  of  a  whole  nation  penetrated  by  tke 
kigher  moral  teaching,  and  embracing  a  new  religion,  without  any  at- 
tempt to  persecute  or  abolish  the  old — the  Shinto  or  nature-worship  of 
ancient  Japan. 

From  this  moment  the  door  of  progress  was  opened ;  architects,  paint- 
ers, japanners,  musicians,  dancers,  chroniclers,  artisans,  potters,  porce- 
lain-manufacturers, fortune-tellers,  all  crowded  into  Japan,  and  were 
welcomed  by  the  empress  who  left  nothing  undone  to  further  both  the 
spiritual  and  material  advancement  of  her  country. 

But  this  happy  state  of  things  soon  closed.  The  imperial  family 
was  composed  of  various  heterogeneous  elements  from  which  there  had 
emerged  into  prominence  two  lines  of  dynasties  (with  no  end  of  feudal 
chiefs),  out  of  which  there  arose  about  this  time  two  princely  families. 
Both  having  acquired  immense  possessions,  and  a  vast  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  people  by  means  of  their  military  talents,  they  now  began 
to  claim,  each  in  its  own  respective  right,  the  hereditary  title  of  Military 
Dictator  of  the  realm. 

Like  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  the  hatreds  and  discords  of 
these  two  families  involved  the  country  in  civil  wars.  They  adopted  a 
red  flag  and  a  white  flag  as  their  respective  standards,  and  were  known 
as  the  Taira   and  Minamoto  clans.     The  annals  of  these  wars  are  filled 


RISE  AS   A   MODERN    POWER.  87 

with  wonderfully  romantic  incidents,  deeds  of  exalted  coinage,  chivalry 
and  devotion,  strangely  identical  with  those  of  the  feudal  limes  of  Euro- 
pean history. 

Religious  Discussions. 

And  now  when  the  higher  life  and  progress  of  Japan  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  stifled  under  the  despotic  rule  of  the  daimios  and  sho- 
guns,  there  appeared  on  the  scene  certain  Portuguese  trading  vessels, 
closely  followed  by  a  band  of  Roman  Catholic  priests,  headed  by  the 
famous  St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  were  invited  by  the  then  dominant  sho- 
gun,  Nobunga,  to  set  forth  the  merits  of  their  religion. 

The  Christian  priests  and  Buddhist  monks  met  in  the  council  hall 
of  the  military  despot,  and  joined  in  long  discussions  on  the  doctrines 
of  their  respective  religions  before  rapt  and  discriminating  audiences. 
Christianity  obtained  a  firm  and  vital  hold  on  the  affections  of  the 
Japanese.  The  Christian  priests  were  not  only  encouraged  to  remain, 
but  a  church  and  monastery  were  built  for  them,  wherein  to  teach  and 
preach  the  doctrines  of  their  church.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the 
joy  with  which  these  priests  were  heard,  or  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
ihe  people  flocked  to  the  little  Christian  temple,  bringing  their  children 
with  them,  to  be  instructed  and  baptised  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

The  Japanese  Christian,  with  that  manly  independence  which  knows 
no  shame  in  professing  a  new  religion,  rejoiced  openly  in  the  purity, 
beauty  and  freedom  of  the  Gospel.  Many  and  many  a  noble  embraced 
Christianity,  and  at  last  Christian  societies  were  formed  in  several  of 
the  great  cities,  and  imperial  Rome  began  to  consider  the  subjugation 
of  the  whole  island  to  Portugal. 

*  But  the  despotic  spirit  of  the  shoguns,  which  had  been  softened  by 
the  influence  of  Christianity,  suddenly  revived  and  kindled  into  hatred 
of  the  new  religion.  In  spite  of  the  Portuguese  missionaries  having 
placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of  certain  powerful  Christian 
nobles,  they  were  seized,  and  nine  were  burned  alive  at  Nagasaki.  Never- 
theless the  new  religion  continued  to  attract  converts  from  all  parts 
of  the  island,  and  found  protection  during  one  or  t\'o  of  the  succeeding 
Teisfns. 


88  RISE  AS   A   MODERN    POWER. 

Persecution  of  Christians. 

In  the  battle  of  Sekeghara,  A.  D.  1600,  the  shogun  of  the  house  of 
.Minamoto  came  off  victorious.  Taking  up  his  residence  at  the  castle 
town  of  Yedo,  he  and  his  successors  swayed  the  destinies  of  the  beau- 
tiful island;  and  no  sooner  was  he  established  as  supreme  military  dic- 
tator than  the  persecution  of  both  foreign  and  native  Christians  was 
renewed  with  fury.  Such  of  the  daimios  as  embraced  Christianity  were 
prohibited  on  political  grounds  from  favoring  the  new  religion;  two 
hundred  foreign  missionaries  were  ordered  on  pain  of  death  to  quit  the 
country.  The  greater  number  departed.  Only  a  few  souls,  who  pre- 
ferred death  to  abandoning  the  cause  of  Christ  which  now  numbered 
over  two  million  souls,  refused  to  obey  the  mandate.  Concealed  in  re- 
mote village  inns,  or  in  nooks  and  corners  of  the  mountain  regions, 
they  stole  out  at  night  to  teach,  encourage,  and  pray  with  their  perse- 
cuted followers.  One  by  one  they  were  discovered,  taken  prisoners, 
and  each  put  to  death;  while  the  native  Christians  were  hunted  down 
and  killed  like  wild  beasts. 

Finally  came  the  awful  tragedy  of  Shimbara  in  1637,  when  thirty 
thousand  Christians  were  massacred,  and  whoever  escaped  and  was 
retaken  was  hurled  from  the  summit  of  Takaboko-Shima  into  the  foam- 
ing waves  of  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Nagasaki.  Then  the  spread  of 
Christianity  in  Japan  seemed  to  be  effectually  arrested. 

Reforms  Instituted. 

For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  Japan  was  shut  in,  as  if  with  bolts 
and  bars,  from  all  foreign  intercourse.     Every  vestige  of  her  foreign 
trade  was  abolished.    Only  a  few  Chinese  and  one  or  two  Dutch  traders 
were  permitted  to  remain  unmolested  at  a  small  port  called  Deshima 
Christians  were  denounced  as  the  "wicked  sect." 

But  lyeyasu  himself,  the  ruthless  persecutor,  could  not  resist  the 
impetus  given  to  his  country.  He  instituted  many  reforms  in  the  gov- 
ernment, and  caused  the  first  great  history  of  Japan  to  be  composed 
and  published.    T'sunayoshi,  his  successor,  founded  a  university  for  the 


RISE  AS   A   MODERN   POWER.  89 

study  of  Chinese  classics,  and  the  teachings  of  the  great  Mongol  sage 
Confucius.  An  observatory  was  built,  and  the  heavens  were  scanned 
with  wonder  and  delight;  and  those  matchless  mausoleums  at  Nikko» 
now  the  national  shrines  of  Japan,  were  erected  to  the  memories  of  the 
great  shogun  rulers,  lyeyasu,  and  lyemitsu,  his  grandson. 

An  Event  of  Importance. 

While  these  great  works  were  being  carried  on,  there  happened 
one  little  event,  insignificant  enough  at  the  time,  but  which,  unfolding 
in  the  light  of  future  history,  seems  to  stretch  forth  until  there  is  no 
measuring  the  length  and  breadth  of  it.  There  was  in  1771  an  adven- 
turous young  physician  in  Yedo  named  Sugita.  One  day  as  he  was 
rambling  through  the  city,  he  chanced  in  a  shop  upon  a  Dutch  book  on 
anatomy.  He  could  not  read  a  word  of  its  contents,  but  he  w^as  so 
struck  with  its  wonderful  illustrations  of  the  human  body  that  he  bought 
the  book  and  did  not  rest  till  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  copies  for  two 
of  his  young  friends ;  night  and  day  they  pondered  over  the  illustrat'ons, 
and  then  determined  to  test  their  accuracy. 

At  a  medical  dissection  Sugita  and  his  friends  compared  and  verified 
beyond  all  doubt  the  strict  fidelity  of  the  pictures  in  the  Dutch  treatise. 
The  three  obtained  secret  instruction  from  the  Dutch  at  Deshima,  and 
having  mastered  the  book,  they  translated  it  into  Japanese,  reproduced 
the  illustrations,  and  as  if  by  some  miracle,  it  found  favor  with  the 
authorities,  and  soon  became  the  text-book  on  anatomy  at  the  medical 
school  of  Yedo.  Little  by  little  the  fruits  of  this  labor  of  love  began 
to  appear;  and  the  desire  for  true  knowledge  once  more  rekindled  was 
never  again  utterly  extinguished. 

First  Step  Towards  a  Greater  Civilization. 

In  1854  Commodore  Perry  appeared  in  the  harbor  of  Japan,  and 
succeeded  in  making  a  treaty  between  Japan  and  the  United  States. 
Four  years  after  Lord  Elgin  secured  a  similar  concession  for  Great 
Britain — and  then,  when  everything  seemed  most  propitious,  there  fol- 
lowed a  sudden  reaction.     Jealousy  and  suspicion  entered  the  minds 


^  RISE   AS   A   MODERN    POWER. 

of  the  feudal  lords.  The  government  was  shaken  to  its  centre.  In- 
trigues and  assassinations  filled  the  beautiful  island.  The  factions  of 
the  shogun  and  the  mikado  contended  for  supremacy.  No  life  was  safe. 
Native,  American,  French,  Dutch,- and  English  officials  were  openly- 
assailed,  insulted,  or  basely  assassinated  in  the  public  highways.  One 
dark  deed  followed  another,  until  the  very  elements  began  to  take  part 
in  the  work  of  devastation;  earthquakes,  typhoons,  great  tidal  waves, 
<levouring  conflagrations  and  pestilences  followed  one  another  and  swept 
the  Dragon  Fly  Land,  which  seemed  like  a  huge  cauldron,  boiling  and 
seething  over. 

In  1868  the  mikado's  party  triumphed  over  that  of  the  shogun.  In 
1877  the  regime  of  the  military  despotism  was  abolished.  The  ancient 
authority  of  the  mikado  was  re-established;  a  political  crisis  exactly 
similar  to  that  which  took  place  in  England  in  the  time  of  Edward  IV. 

The  mikado  was  re-enthroned,  as  a  responsible  and  human  sovereign. 
A  council  assisted  him  to  regulate  all  state  affairs.  A  governor  was 
placed  over  each  province.  A  man  of  experience  and  integrity  was  ap- 
pointed over  each  of  the  departments  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Finance,  War, 
Marine,  Public  W^orks,  Agriculture,  Commerce  and  Education.  Chris- 
tian teachers,  professors  and  scientists,  were  welcomed  to  aid  in  the 
reformation ;  and  our  Asiatic  cousins  of  the  Dragon-Fly  Land  seemed 
absolutely  to  leap  onward  towards  a  great  civilization. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
JAPANESE  HOME  LIFE 

Social  Customs — Japanese  Houses — Marriage  Customs — The  Family — Tlie  Bath — No  Mock 
Modesty — Household  Utensils — Very  Little  Furniture — The  Cuisine — Poorly  Venti- 
lated Bed-Booms. 

SIMPLICITY  is  the  key-note  of  the  Japanese  home-life,  and  because 
of  it  Japan,  as  an  empire,  has  been  able  to  endure  and  grow  strong 
under  such  adverse  circumstances  as  might  have  wiped  it  out  of  exist- 
ence had  it  been  endowed  or  cursed,  with  our  modern  civilization.  Every 
family  has  a  home.  There  are  no  boarding-houses,  and  the  hotels, 
which  are  comparatively  few,  considering  the  size  of  the  population, 
are  used  only  by  travelers.  A  stay  of  a  couple  of  weeks  at  a  hotel  is  con- 
sidered a  long  one. 

Love  Not  the  Motive  in  Marriage. 

The  men  and  women  marry  young,  but  rare  is  the  man  who  is  able 
or  who  cares  to  take  his  bride  to  a  home  of  his  own.  The  social  unit  in 
Japan  is  the  family,  not  the  married  couple.  It  is  for  no  such  trivial 
matter,  in  their  eyes,  as  love  or  mutual  attachment  that  mar-riages  are 
made  among  the  Japanese.  Far  weightier  the  reason,  which  is  the  pur- 
pose' of  continuing  the  family,  that  sons  and  heirs  may  be  born  to  per- 
form the  ancestor-worship  and  keep  alive  the  family  name. 

If  a  family  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  no  son,  or  to  have  lost  the 
son  by  death,  then  either  a  son  must  be  legally  adopted,  or,  in  case 
there  is  a  daughter,  a  suitable  husband  is  chosen,  who,  upon  his  mar- 
riage, assumes  the  family  name,  and  in  all  respects,  legal  and  personal, 
IS  given  the  place  of  a  true  son  and  heir. 

Children  are  carefully  reared  and  trained  to  meet  the  emergencies 

91 


92  JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE. 

of  their  existence,  and  to  fill  the  sphere  they  are  likely  to  occupy.  A 
girl  knows  that  when  she  is  married,  no  matter  what  the  social  position 
of  the  family  she  enters,  her  place  will  be  that  of  servant  to  her  grand- 
mother-in-law,  mother-in-law  and  husband,  just  as  long  as  they  live, 
and  that  when  her  eldest  son  arrives  at  an  age  of  dignity,  she  will  become 
his  chief  servant  as  wMl. 

Houses  Inconceivably  Small. 

The  domestic  economy  of  the  household  is  of  the  simplest  character,, 
and  so,  of  necessity,  the  houses  are  small  and  simple  beyond  American 
imaginations.  A  family  of  eight  persons  will  live  in  perfect  comfort  in 
a  one-story  house  twenty-four  feet  square,  with  no  cellar  and  only  a 
small  air-chamber  above,  hardly  large  enough  to  call  a  loft,  which  is 
sometimes  used  for  storage.  This  house  will  probably  have  a  small 
vestibule  entrance,  while  directly  joining  this  entrance  Is  the  kitchen, 
for  what  corresponds  to  our  better  living-rooms  are  always  at  the  back 
of  the  house,  and  the  kitchen  and  bath  in  the  front. 

The  rear  portion  of  the  house  is  usually  arranged  so  that  it  may  be 
divided  by  sliding  screens,  called  "fusuma,"  into  two  rooms,  and  these 
overlook  a  garden  that  may  be  very  small  or  of  dignified  proportions; 
but  a  garden  there  is  sure  to  be,  even  if  it  covers  only  a  few  square  feet. 

Whether  the  house  be  in  a  city  or  a  country  village,  it  will  be  set 
directly  on  the  line  of  the  street,  for  a  garden  front  is  almost  unknown. 
Except  in  the  Europeanized  Tokio,  and  in  the  foreign  concessions  of  the 
port  cities,  there  are  no  sidewalks,  and  so  one  enters  from  the  roadway 
through  a  gate  into  a  small  covered  recess  where  odd-shaped  stones 
serve  for  stepping-places  to  the  vestibule.  A  tradesman,  or  one  on  un- 
pleasant business,  gets  no  farther  than  this  entrance ;  but  the  bride,  con- 
ducted after  the  wedding  ceremony  to  her  husband's  home,  is  ushered 
in  with  much  formality;  the  members  of  the  family  take  their  places  in 
the  vestibule  in  proper  order  of  precedence,  and  prostrate  themselves 
in  reverences  of  the  deepest  respect. 


JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE.  93 

The  Mother-in-Law  Supreme. 

The  age  of  tlie  bride  will  probably  be  twenty  years,  and  the  bride- 
groom's, twenty-one.  He,  let  us  say,  is  the  eldest  son,  and  so  the  first 
to  marry.  Pleased  are  the  mother  and  the  aged  grandmother  to  have 
added  to  the  household  a  new  and  willing  handmaid. 

The  family  consists  of  the  "obaa-san,"  the  honorable  elderly  one, 
the  mother  of  the  lord  and  master,  who  may  be  an  honorable  judge  of 
the  local  court;  his  wife,  who  really,  will  not  regret  thie  day  the  aged 
mother-in-law  passes  on  to  the  land  of  the  Sun  Goddess,  that  she,  at 
last,  may  4>e  mistress  in  her  own  household  instead  of  chief  servant. 
Then  come  two  younger  children — a  boy  of  seventeen,  who  attends  the 
modern  schools,  and  is  taught  strange  and  incredible  things,  and  a  dear 
little  girl  of  twelve,  who  is  not  larger  than  the  American  child  of  eight. 
A  maid  servant,  of  perhaps  thirty,  but  far  older  in  looks,  completes  the 
household.  None  of  these  is  a  stranger  to  the  Httle  bride,  who  has 
lived  all  her  life  in  the  neighborhood,  but  her  heart  is  heavy  and  filled 
with  foreboding,  for  fear  she  may  fail  in  her  chief  duty,  which  is  to 
please  and  serve  each  member  of  the  household,  not  excepting  even  the 
old  family  servant,  who  may  prove  to  be  the  most  fault-finding  of 
them  all. 

Little  or  no  Privacy. 

Beyond  the  kitchen  there  are  two  other  rooms  of  the  house,  and, 
as  the  screens  separating  these  rooms  are  removed  at  early  dawn,  the 
occupants  have  no  privacy  as  we  know  it.  But  privacy  is  the  last  thing 
a  Japanese  wants.  He  is  sociable  by  nature;  he  likes  his  fellow-beings, 
and  to  be  alone  would  be  unhappiness  to  him.  So  far  does  his  love  of 
society  lead  him  that  he  much  prefers  to  take  his  public  bath  at  the 
public  bath-house,  where  he  may  chat  and  gossip,  while  he  scrubs  and 
soaks  himself,  in  company  with  a  number  of  his  fellow  townspeople. 
When  this  pleasure  was  denied  him,  he  formerly  used  to  have  his  own 
private  bath-tub  removed  to  the  roadside  by  his  doorway,  where  he 
could  pass  the  time  of  day  with  his  neighbors  and  the  passing  traveler 
while  enjoying  his  ablutions. 


94  JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE. 

This  custom  was  likewise  held  to  by  the  women  of  the  family.  Now,, 
however,  since  the  restoration  of  '68,  and  the  enactment  of  new,  and,  to 
the  Japanese,  incomprehensible  laws,  the  local  police  will  permit  no 
tubs  by  the  village  roadside,  and  they  may  be  found  there  only  in  dis- 
tricts so  remote  and  isolated  that  the  visits  of  the  watchful  police  are 
few  and  far  between. 

The  Rooms  Bare  of  Furniture. 

A  Japanese  household  has  no  need  of  separate  bedrooms,  dining-room 
or  parlor,  for  one  room  easily  serves  the  purpose  of  all  three.  Rooms  are 
absolutely  bare  of  furniture,  no  matter  how  wealthy  the  family,  with 
the  exception,  possibly,  of  a  lacquered  table  raised  from  the  floor  about 
one  foot.  The  furnishings  of  a  house  consist  of  the  beautiful,  spotlessly 
clean  straw  mats,  three  feet  wide,  six  feet  long  and  two  inches  thick, 
that  lie  snugly  over  the  entire  floor-space.  Every  room  is  built  just 
such  a  size  that  it  holds  a  certain  number  of  mats,  and  is  spoken  of  as 
a  three-mat,  six-mat,  eight-mat  or  ten-mat  room.  On  these  mats  are 
laid  cushions  stuffed  with  layers  of  cotton  wadding,  and  covered  with 
linen  covers  of  soft,  dull  shades  of  blue,  green,  gray  or  brown,  or,  rarely^ 
of  a  soft  brown  or  gray  leather. 

The  Hibachi. 

The  "hibachi,"  or  fire-box,  might  be  considered  a  piece  of  furniture, 
for  there  are  always  one  or  more  of  these  in  every  room  of  the  house. 
They  are  bowls  or  boxes  of  metal,  wood,  china  or  pottery,  and  vary  in 
size  from  ten  to  twenty  inches  in  diameter.  The  hibachi  is  well  filled 
with  charcoal  ashes,  on  the  top  of  which  are  placed  pieces  of  live  char- 
coal. A  tripod  of  metal  or  pottery  sets  over  the  live  coals,  and  on  it  rests 
liie  ever-present  water-kettle,  in  which  water  for  the  tea  is  kept  boiling. 
In  cold  weather,  the  hibachi  serves  a  double  purpose,  for  it  is  the  only 
means  employed  for  heating.  Small  and  insignificant  as  it  appears,  it 
really  does  temper  the  air  in  a  room  when  the  "shoji"  and  "fusuma"  are 
closed,  and  around  it  the  family  will  crouch,  warming  their  hands  and 
wrists  over  the  glowing  coals. 


JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE.  95: 

Objects  of  Utility  and  Beauty. 

A  second  household  utensil  never  lacking  is  the  "tabako-bon."  This 
is  a  small  square  box,  usually  of  wood,  containing  a  tiny  little  bowl,  also 
filled  with  ashes,  on  the  top  of  which  is  some  live  charcoal  for  lighting 
the  pipes  and  cigarettes  that  are  smoked  by  both  men  and  women,  and 
in  the  box  is  also  a  section  of  bamboo,  which  forms  a  tall,  slim  cup  inta 
which  are  dropped  the  ashes  from  pipes  and  cigarette-ends. 

Some  object  of  beauty  is  necessary  to  the  life  of  every  Japanese- 
household,  however  humble,  and  so  in  one  of  the  rooms  is  always  a 
recess  called  "toko-no-ma,"  which  is  raised  a  few  inches  above  the  floor. 
In  this  recess  hangs  a  *''kakemona,"  or  picture  on  a  scroll,  and  below  it 
stands  a  vase  containing  some  arrangement  of  flowers  or  branches  of  a 
tree.  These  pictures  and  floral  arrangements  have  special  significance, 
and  are  changed  from  day  to  day  and  according  to  the  season. 

The  members  of  the  family  sit  on  their  heels  on  the  cushions,  with 
the  hibachis  and  tabako-bons  beside  the  elder,  and  therefore  most  hon- 
orable, personages  in  the  household;  for  age  is  truly  venerated  in  the 
East,  and  the  older  one  grows,  the  greater  the  veneration  inspired,  and 
the  more  consideration  and  courtesy  one  is  shown. 

When  a  guest  arrives,  a  cushion  is  placed  in  front  of  the  toko-no-ma, 
which,  being  the  place  of  honor,  is  offered  as  a  proof  of  extreme  polite- 
ness. 

Articles  of  Food. 

Usually,  the  kitchen  is  of  such  tiny  proportions  that  it  is  a  marvel 
to  foreigners  how  a  meal  can  be  prepared  there.  The  cook-stove,  or 
range,  will  probably  be  a  plaster  contrivance  of  only  two  holes,  upon 
which  the  pots  and  pans  rest,  and  under  which  are  poked  short  pieces 
of  wood  or  small  pieces  of  charcoal.  The  rice  is  boiled  here,  and  the 
fish  fried  or  broiled,  the  vegetables  cooked,  fish-soup  made,  and  also 
delicious  omelettes;  but  no  bread  or  butter,  milk,  cream  or  cheese  ever 
enters  a  Japanese  house.  The  few  cakes  and  sweets  used,  and  dainties 
such  as  eels  fried  in  "shoyu,"  and  sweet  potatoes,  are  always  bought  at 
the  public  shops,  and  "sembe,"  or  biscuits  of  various  sorts,  also  come 


96  JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE. 

from  the  manufacturers.  The  sweet  potato  is  to  the  children  what  candy- 
is  to  the  foreigner.  There  are  shops  that  sell  nothing  but  boiled  sweet 
potatoes,  and  a  Japanese  would  as  soon  think  she  could  cook  a  sweet 
potato  at  home  as  a  foreigner  would  think  she  could  make  French  candy. 

Table  Manners. 

At  meal-time  lacquer-trays  are  spread  in  the  kitchen;  one  for  each 
member  of  the  family,  and  on  the  tray  are  placed  the  covered  empty 
bowl  for  the  rice;  the  tiny  dish  of  pickles  to  eat  with  the  rice;  the  bowl 
of  fish-soup,  in  which  is  floating  a  square  of  snow-white  bean  curd;  the 
small  dish  with  the  fried  or  boiled  fish,  and  the  dish  of  vegetables,  such 
as  egg-plant,  lotus-root,  bamboo-shoot,  beans,  or  possibly  artichoke,  ac- 
cording to  the  season.  There  are  also  the  chop-sticks  with  which  to 
eat  the  food.  The  maid  brings  in  each  tray,  places  it  before  each  mem- 
ber of  the  family,  making  a  reverence  each  time,  and  then  goes  out, 
returning  with  a  small,  white  wooden  tub,  tightly  covered,  in  which  is 
the  smoking  rice.  The  rice  is  beautifully  cooked,  each  flake  being  sep- 
arate ;  for  gummy,  ill-cooked  rice  is  looked  upon  with  disgust,  and  eaten 
under  protest.  It  is  customary  to  eat  three  bowls  of  rice  at  least  at 
each  meal  (the  bowls  are  the  size  of  a  small  teacup),  but  rtot  one  grain 
must  be  left  in  the  bowl  when  the  meal  is  finished,  for  that  is  a  sign  of 
ill-breeding.  While  the  meal  is  in  progress,  the  maid  sits  by  the  rice- 
tub  and  serves  the  family,  and  refills  the  bowls.  With  the  last  bowlful, 
hot  tea  is  usually  poured  over  the  rke,  and  later  the  rice-bowl  may  be 
used  in  place  of  a  teacup. 

The  trays  are  all  removed  when  the  meal  is  over,  and  the  dining- 
room  again  becomes  the  living-room,  which  purpose  it  continues  to  serve 
until  bedtime  arrives. 

Japanese  Beds. 

Then  the  maid  brings  forth  from  some  well-concealed  cupboard  the 
^'futons,"  which  serve  both  as  mattresses  and  bedding,  and  these  she 
lays  upon  the  straw  mats  of  the  floor,  one  close  to  the  other,  side  by 
^ide.  In  the  rooms  of  the  house  we  have  described  there  would  b€ 
space  for  four  in  each  room,  with  no  uncomfortable  crowding,  so  in  the 


JAPANESE  HOME  UFE.  97 

first  rooioa  vrouid  sleep  grandmother,  father  and  mother  and  the  little 
daughter;  while  in  the  next  room  would  be  the  bride  and  bridegroom, 
the  seventeen-year-old  son  and  the  servant,  unless  by  chance  the  latter 
had  a  family  and  home  of  her  own,  to  which  she  would  go  each  night. 

The  futons  arc  about  six  feet  long  and  three  wide,  and  are  nmch 
heavier  than  our  comfortables.  They  arc  covered  with  bright-colored 
cotton  cloth,  and  no  sheets  or  counterpanes  are  used.  Two  are  given 
to  each  person,  one  to  sleep  on  and  one  to  sleep  under,  and  with  them 
goes  a  wooden  pillow,  or  rather  block,  that  fits  into  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
or  perhaps  a  small  round  roll  stuffed  hard  with  rice-huSk.  An  "andort,'^ 
or  lantern,  stands  on  the  floor,  containing  a  saucer  of  oil  and  a  wick 
formed  of  the  pith  from  a  plant,  or  maybe,  a  malodorous  kerosene  lamp. 
All  night  long  these  lamps  burn,  for  ghosts  cannot  see  their  way  about 
unless  it  is  dark,  and  ghosts  are  not  desirable  companions,  day  or  night. 

Stuffy  Sleeping  Apartments. 

The  fear  of  ghosts  clings  pertinaciously  to  the  Japanese  people  in 
spite  of  the  influence  of  Western  education  and  conversions  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  this  trait  causes  them  to  suffer  the  most  unhygienic  condi- 
tions to  accompany  their  sleep. 

In  the  daytime,  the  Japanese  cannot  have  too  much  fresh  air,  and 
winter  or  summer,  rain  or  shine,  at  the  first  peep  of  dawn,  the  "amado," 
heavy  wooden  shutters,  that  really  are  the  outside  walls  of  the  house, 
are  slid  back  on  their  iron  groove,  and  neatly  stacked  away  in  the  recess 
built  for  them  at  the  end  of  the  house.  Inside  the  amado,  just  three 
feet  distant,  are  the  "shoji,"  or  fragile  sliding  paper  screens,  and  these 
too,  are  pushed  back,  one  upon  the  other,  or  lifted  out  entirely,  and  thus, 
with  both  the  outside  and  inside  walls  removed,  the  household  prac- 
tically lives  in  the  open.  The  one  thing  they  seem  to  require  in  super- 
abundance by  day  is  fresh  air,  but  their  desire  for  this  vanishes  suddenly 
the  moment  bedtime  comes,  and  first  the  shoji  and  fusuma  are  put  back 
in  their  places,  and  then  the  heavy  amado,  with  much  pushing  and  creak- 
ing, are  slid  snugly  home  and  fastened  shut  with  a  long  iron  or  wooden 
bar. 


98  JAPANESE   HOME   LIFE. 

When  this  has  been  done,  the  household  is  prepared  for  its  slumbers^ 
but  the  only  fresh  air  that  can  possibly  get  into  the  house  at  night  must 
force  itself  through  the  one  or  t-wo  small  crescents  that  may  perhaps 
have  been  cut  in  the  amado,  to  give  a  ray  of  light  for  the  maid  who  comes 
to  open  them  in  the  morning.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  a  night  spent 
in  such  an  atmosphere  is  not  conducive  to  the  maintenance  of  a  healthy 
body,  and  the  two  conditions  that  contribute  most  to  the  alarming 
spread  of  consumption  in  Japan,  and  make  its  cure  almost  hopeless,  are 
those  of  the  sleeping-rooms  being  shared  by  so  many  people,  and  the 
lack  of  ventilation  at  night. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN 

Bvddhism  in  Its  Early  Purity — ^A  Popular  Religion — Eternal  Life  Not  to  be  Desired^^ — 
Various   Sects — Nichiren — Buddhist   Protestants — Shintoism,   Its   Gods   and   Symbols 
— How  the  Records  Were  Preserved — Christianity — Its  Introduction  and  Eradication 
— Early  Martjrrs — The  Jesuits — The  Fire  Smoldering. 

THE  indigenous  religions  of  Japan  are   Shintoism   and   Buddliism.  . 
The  religion  founded  by  Buddha,  which  is  older  by  six  centuries 
than  that   founded  by  Christ  is  professed  by  nearly  one-third   of  the 
human  race,  and  has  a  literature  perhaps  larger  than  all  other  religious  • 
literatures  combined.     Christians  must  surely  be  interested  in  knowing. 
of  the  faith  they  are  endeavoring  to  displace,  and  when  it  is  considered . 
that  Buddhist  temples  are  already  erected  upon  American  soil,  that  a 
new  development  of  this  ancient  faith  may  yet  set  itself  up  as  a  rival 
of  Christianity,  the  subject  will  be  seen  to  possess  an  immediate  interest.. 

True  Estate  of  the  Human  Soul. 

Buddhism  originated  as  an  atheistic  system,  with  a  philosophy  and' 
a  code  of  morals  higher,  perhaps,  than  any  heathen  religion  had  reached 
before,  or  has  since  attained.     It  taught  that  the  souls  of  all  men  had 
lived  in  a  previous  state  of  existence,  and  that  all  the  sorrows  of  this 
life  are  punishments  for  sins  committed  in  a  previous  state.     Each  hu- 
man soul  has  whirled  through  countless  eddies  of  existence,  and  has 
still  to  pass  through  a  long  succession  of  birth,  pain,  and  death.     Alt' 
is  fleeting — nothing  is  real — this  life  is  all  a  delusion.     After  death,  the 
soul  must  migrate  for  ages  through  stages  of  life,  inferior  or  superior, . 
until,  perchance,  it  arrives  at  last  in  Nirvana,  or  absorption  in  Buddha. 
The  true  estate  of  the  human  soul,  according  to  the  Buddhist,  is  blissful.' 
annihilation. 

99 


loo  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

Besides  the  cardinal  prohibitions  against  murder,  stealing,  adultery, 
lying,  drunkenness,  and  unchastity,  "every  shade  of  vice,  hypocrisy,  an- 
ger, pride,  suspicion,  greediness,  gossiping,  cruelty  to  animals,  is  guarded 
against  by  special  precepts.  Among  the  virtues  recommended,  we  find 
not  only  reverence  of  parents,  care  of  children,  submission  to  authority, 
gratitude,  moderation  in  time  of  prosperity,  submission  in  time  of  trial, 
equanimity  at  all  times;  but  virtue  such  as  the  duty  of  forgiving  insults, 
and  not  rewarding  evil  with  evil."  Whatever  the  practice  of  the  people 
may  be,  they  are  taught,  as  laid  down  in  their  sacred  books,  the  rules 
thus  summarized  above. 

Buddhism  Becomes  a  Theological  System. 

'Such,  as  we  may  glean,  was  Buddhism  in  its  early  purity.  Besides 
its  rrioral  code  and  philosophical  doctrines,  it  had  almost  nothing.  An 
ecclesiastical  system  it  was  not  in  any  sense.  Its  progress  was  rapid 
and  remarkable.  Though  finally  driven  out  of  India,  it  swept  through 
Burmah,  Siam,  China,  Thibet,  Manchuria,  Korea.  Siberia,  and  finally, 
after  twelve  centuries,  entered  Japan. 

By  this  time  the  bare  and  bald  original  doctrines  were  glorious  in  the 
apparel  with  which  Asiatic  imagination  and  priestly  necessity  had 
clothed  and  adorned  them.  The  ideas  had  been  expanded  into  a  com- 
plete, theological  system,  with  all  the  appurtenances  of  a  stock  religion. 

General  councils  had  been  held,  decrees  had  been  issued,  dogmas 
defined  or  abolished;  Buddhism  had  emerged  from  philosophy  into  re- 
ligion. Thie  Buddhist  missionaries  entered  Japan  having  a  mechanism 
perfectly  fitted  to  pTay  upon  the  fears  and  hopes  of  an  ignorant  people, 
and  to  bring  them  into  obedience  to  the  new  and  aggressive  faith. 

If  there  was  one  country  in  which  the  success  of  Buddhism  as  a 
popular  religion  seemed  foreordained,  that  country  was  Japan.  It  was 
virgin  soil  for  anything  that  could  be  called  a  religion.  Before  Buddhism 
came,  very  little  worthy  of  the  name  existed.  Day  by  day,  each  new 
ray  of  the. light  of  research  that  now  falls  upon  that  gray  dawn  of 
Japanese  history  shows  that  Shinto  was  a  pale  and  shadowy  cult,  and 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  loi 

that  the  coming  of  Buddhism  quickened  itV'by  the  force  of  oppKDsition, 
into  something  approaching  a  religious  system. 

If  the  heart  of  the  ancient  Japanese  longed  after  a  solution  of  the 
questions  whence?  whither?  why? — if  it  yearned  for  religious  truth,. as 
the  hearts  of  all  men  doubtless  do — it  must  have  been  ready  to  welcome 
something  more  tangible  than  the  emptiness  of  Shinto. 

Life  Has  No  Charms  for  the  Asiatic. 

Buddhism  came  to  touch  the  heart,  to  lire  the  imagination,  to  feed 
the  intellect,  to  offer  a  code  of  lofty  morals,  to  point  out  a  pure  life 
through  self-denial,  to  awe  the  ignorant,  and  to  terrify  the  doubting.  A 
well-fed  and  clothed  Anglo-Saxon,  to  whom  conscious  existence  seems 
the  very  rapture  of  joy,  and  whose  soul  yearns  for  an'eternity  of  life, 
may  not  understand  how  a  hiiman  soul  could  ever  long  for  utter  absorp- 
tion of  being  and  personality,  even  in  God,  much  less  for  total  annihila- 
tion. 

But,  among  the  Asiatic  poor,  where  ceaseless  drudgery  is  often  "the 
lot  for  life,  where  a  vegetable  diet  keeps  the  vital  force  low,  where  the 
tax-gatherer  is  the  chief  representative  of  government,  where  the  earth- 
quake and  typhoon  are  so  frequent  and  dreadful,  and  where  the  forces 
of  nature  are  feared  as  malignant  intelligences,  life  does  not  wear  such 
charms  as  to  lead  the  human  soul  to  long  for  an  eternity  of  it. 

New  Schools  of  Thought. 

Among  the  various  sects  of  Buddhism,  however,  the  understanding 
of  the  doctrine  of  Nirvana  varies  greatly.  Some  believe  in  the  total 
nonentity  of  the  human  soul,  the  utter  annihilation  of  consciousness; 
while  others,  on  the  contrary,  hold  that,  as  part  of  the  divine  whole, 
the  human  soul  enjoys  a  measure  of  conscious  personality.  Persecution 
and  opposition  at  first  united  together  the  adherents  of  the  new  faith, 
but  success  and  prosperity  gave  rise  to  schisms.  New  sects  were  founded 
in  Japan,  while  many  priests  traveled  abroad  to  Korea  and  China,  and 
came  back  as  new  lights  and  reformers,  to  found  new  schools  of  thought 
and  worship.    Of  these  the  most  illustrious  was  Kol:.o,  fame'd  rtofiotily  as 


ixy2  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

,-a  scholar,  but  as  an  eminently  holy  bonze,  or  priest,  and  the  compiler  of 
-the  Japanese  alphabet,  which,  with  diacritical  points,  may  be  increased 
.^o  the  number  of  seventy. 

The  Golden  Century  of  Buddhism. 

The  thirteenth  of  the  Christian  era  is  the  golden  century  of  Japanese 
TBuddhism ;  for  then  were  developed  those  phases  of  thought  peculiar 
to  it,  and  sects  founded,  most  of  them  in  Kioto,  which  are  still  the  most 
flourishing  in  Japan.  Among  these  were,  in  1202,  the  Zen;  in  121 1,  the 
Jodo;  in  1262,  the  Shin,  and  in  1282,  the  Nichiren.  In  various  decades 
•of  the  century  several  other  important  sects  originated,  and  the  number 
-of  brilliant  intellects  that  adorned  the  priesthood  at  this  period  is  re- 
markable.   Of  these,  only  two  can  be  noticed,  for  lack  of  space. 

In  A.  D.  1222,  there  was  born,  in  a  suburb  of  the  town  of  Kominto, 
in  Awa,  a  child  who  was  destined  to  influence  the  faith  of  millions,  and 
"to  leave  the  impress  of  his  character  and  intellect  indelibly  upon  the 
minds  of  his  countrymen.     He  was  to  found  the  Nichiren  sect  of  Bud- 
dhism, which  should  grow  to  be  one  of  the  largest,  wealthiest,  and  most 
.influential  in  Japan. 

Characteristics  of  the  Nichirenites. 

^o  other  sect  is  so  fond  of  controversy.  The  bonzes  of  none  other 
can  excel  those  of  the  Nichiren  in  proselyting  zeal,  in  the  bitterness  of 
their  theological  arguments,  in  the  venom  of  their  revilings,  or  the  force 
with  which  they  hurl  their  epithets  at  those  who  differ  in  opinion  or 

^^practices  from  them.  In  their  view,  all  other  sects  than  theirs  are  use- 
less. 

Among  the  Nichirenites  are  to  be  found  more  prayer-books,  drums, 

-and  other  noisy  accompaniments  of  revivals,  than  in  any  other  sect. 
They  excel  in  the  number  of  pilgrims,  and  in  the  use  of  charms,  spells, 

:.and  amulets.  Their  priests  are  celibates,  and  must  abstain  from  wine, 
fish,  and  all  flesh.  They  are  the  ranters  of  Buddhism.  To  this  day,  a 
a-evival  meeting  in  one  of  their  temples  is  a  scene  that  often  beggars 

-description;  and  may  weaken  deaf  ears. 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  103 

The  Youth  of  Nichiren. 

Nichiren  ("sun-lotus")  was  so  named  by  his  mother,  who  at  con- 
<:eption  had  dreamed  that  the  sun  ("nichi")  had  entered  her  body.  This 
story  is  also  told  of  other  mothers  of  Japanese  great  men,  and  seems  to 
be  a  favorite  stock-belief  concerning  the  women  who  bear  children  that 
afterward  become  men  of  renown  or  exalted  holiness 

The  boy  grew  up  surrounded  by  the  glorious  scenery  of  mountain, 
wave,  shore,  and  with  the  infinity  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  before  him.  He 
was  a  dreamy,  meditative  child.  He  was  early  put  under  the  care  of 
a  holy  bonze,  but  when  grown  to  manhood  discarded  many  of  the  old 
doctrines,  and,  being  dissatisfied  with  the  other  sects,  resolved  to  found 
•one,  the  followers  of  which  should  be  the  holders  and  examplers  of  the 
pure  truth. 

A  Menace  to  the  Public  Peace. 

Nichiren  founded  numerous  temples,  but  was  busy  during  the  whole 
of  his  life,  when  not  in  exile,  in  teaching,  preaching,  and  itinerating. 
He  published  a  book  called  Ankoku  Ron  ("An  argument  to  tranquilize 
the  country".)  The  bitterness  with  which  he  attacked  other  sects  roused 
up  a  host  of  enemies  against  him,  who  complained  to  Hojo  Tokiyori,  the 
"shikken,"  on  holder  of  the  power  at  Kamakura,  and  prayed  to  have 
him  silenced,  as  a  destroyer  of  the  public  peace,  as  indeed  the  holy 
man  was. 

Nichiren  was  banished  to  Cape  Ito,  in  Idzu,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  On  his  release,  instead  of  holding  his  tongue,  he  allowed  it  to 
run  more  violently  than  ever  against  other  sects,  especially  decrying 
the  great  and  learned  priests  of  previous  generations.  Hojo  Tokiyori 
again  arrested  him,  confined  him  in  a  dungeon  below  ground,  and  con- 
'demned  him  to  death. 

The  Gods  Intervene. 

On  a  certain  day  he  was  taken  out  to  a  village  on  the  strand  of  the 
bay  beyond  Kamakura,  and  in  front  of  the  lovely  island  of  Enoshima. 
This  village  is  called  Koshigoye.    At  this  time  Nichiren  was  forty-three 


I04  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

years  old.     Kneeling  down  upon  the  strand,  the  saintly  bonze  calmly 
uttered  his  prayers. 

The  swordsman  lifted  bis  blade,  and,  with  ali  his  might,  ma-de  the 
downward  stroke.  Suddenly  a  flood  of  blinding  light  burst  from  the 
sky,  and  smote  upon  the  executioner  and  the  official  inspector  deputed  to 
witness  the  severed  head.  The  sword  blade  was  broken  in  pieces,  while 
th-e  holy  man  was  unharmed.  Through  the  clemency  of  Hojo  Tokimune, 
Nichiren  was  pardoned  and  sent  to  Sado  Island.  He  was  afterward  re- 
leased by  his  benefactor  in  a  general  am^iesty. 

Nichiren  fotmded  his  sect  at  Kioto,  and  it  greatly  flourished  under 
the  care  of  his  disciple,  his  reverence  Nichizo.  After  a  busy  and  holy 
life,  the  great  saint  di«d  at  Ikegami,  a  little  to  northwest  of  the  Kawasaki 
railroad  station,  between  Yokohama  and  Tokio,  where  the  scream  of 
the  locomotive  and  the  rumble  of  the  railway  ear  are  but  faintly  hear<i 
in  its  solemn  shades. 

The  Shin  Sect. 

The  Protestants  of  Japanese  Buddhism  are  the  followers  of  the  Shin 
sect,  founded  by  his  reverence  Shinran,  in  1262.  Shinran  was  a  pupil  of 
Honen,  who  founded  the  Jodo  shiu,  and  was  of  noble  descent.  While 
in  Kioto,  at  thirty  years  of  age,  he  married  a  lady  of  noble  blood,  named 
Tamayori-hime,  the  daughter  of  the  Kuambaku.  Devout  prayer,  purity, 
and  earnestness  of  life,  and  trust  in  Buddha  himself  as  the  only  worker 
of  righteousness,  are  insisted  upon.  Other  sects  teach  the  doctrine  of 
salvation  by  works.  Shinran  taught  that  it  is  faith  in  Buddha  that  ac- 
complishes the  salvation  of  the  believer. 

To  treat  of  the  doctrinal  difference  and  various  customs  of  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  would  require  a  volume.  Japanese  Buddhism 
richly  deserves  thorough  study,  and  a  scholarly  treatise  by  itself. 

Sacred  Shinto  Books. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Shintoism  is  the  state  religion  of 
Japan,  that  it  has  its  sacred  books  and  symbols,  its  gods  and  goddesses, 
its  temples  and  priests,  many  claim  that  it  is  more  of  a  political  than  a 
religious  system,  its  main  tenet  being  absolute  obedience  to  the  mikado, 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  105 

who  is  its  head.  The  two  most  sacred  Shinto  books  are  the  Kojiki  and 
the  NihonkL  Ajiciently,  Japanese  books  were  committed  to  memory 
and  historical  records  were  not  ptrt  in  written  form  until  the  eighth  cen- 
tury. 

According  to  a  well  known  authority,  in  415  A.  D.,  officials  were 
sent  into  the  country  to  verify  and  describe  the  names  of  all  the  families. 
Later,  a  transcription  of  these  records,  in  Chinese  characters  took  place, 
and  in  644  A.  D.,  an  historical  account  of  the  emperors,  the  country, 
the  officials  and  the  people  is  said  to  have  existed,  which  was  destroyed 
when  Iruka  was  murdered,  and  his  father's  palace,  in  which  these 
records  were  kept,  was  burned.  Only  the  history  of  the  country  was 
saved.  From  this  work,  as  well  as  from  what  tiie  old  men  of  the  whole 
empire  -remembered,  a  new  compilation  was  made  under  the  Emperor 
Temmu  (673^90  A.  D.),  and  in  order  that  it  might  not  be  lost  again, 
it  was  read  to  a  peasant  girl,  named  Are,  who  was  said  never  to  forget 
anything  s:he  had  once  heard.  From  this  record,  and  from  what  Are 
still  remembered,  the  first  historical  record  of  Japan  known  to  us,  the 
Kojiki,  was  .compiled  about  thirty  years  later. 

These  books  contain  the  mythology  of  Japan,  which  is  in  many 
ways  superior  to  that  of  Greece.  In  another  chapter  of  this  work,  the 
reader  will  find  many  interesting  facts  regarding  the  above-mentioned 
books,  including  the  Japanese  story  of  "The  Creation,"  which  describes 
the  origin  of  the  gods  and  goddesses,  of  man,  and  of  the  earth. 

What  the  Shintoist  BeHeves. 

Shintoism  was  introduced  into  Japan  about  1,200  years  before  Bud- 
dhism; it  is  called  by  tiie  Japanese,  Ka.mi-No-Michi,  or  "The  Way  of 
the  Gods."  A  well  kno^vn  writer  on  the  subject  states  that  the  char- 
acteristics of  Shintoism  are  absence  of  a  doctrinal  code,  of  idol-worship, 
of  priestcraft,  and  of  any  teachings  concerning  the  future,  and  the  state 
of  beatification,  of  heroes,  emperors  and  great  men,  together  with  the 
worship  of  certain  forces  and  objects  in  nature.  It  is  said  that  the  Kami, 
or  gods,  number  14,000,  of  whom  3,700  are  known  to  have  shrines; 
but  practically  the  number  is  infinite.     Each  hamlet  has  its  special  god. 


io6  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

as  well  as  its  shrine;  and  each  child  is  taken  to  the  shrine  of  the  dis- 
trict in  which  it  is  born,  a  month  after  birth,  and  the  god  of  that  shrine 
becomes  his  patron.  Each  god  has  its  annual  festival,  while  many  have 
particular  days  of  each  month  on  which  people  visit  their  shrines.  There 
are  good  gods,  who  are  worshiped  in  order  that  there  may  be  an  increase 
of  good  gifts,  and  there  are  bad  gods  to  be  appeased.  There  is  the 
sun-god,  and  the  moon-god;  there  are  gods  of  storms,  winds,  rain,  thun- 
der, fertility,  mountains,  fields  and  streams. 

Objects  of  Worship. 

^  Among  the  Shintoists,  perhaps  the  most  common  object  of  worship 
is  the  sun,  hence,  Japan  is  called  "The  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun."  Then 
there  are  the  "Seven  Patrons  of  Happiness,"  who  have  charge  of  long 
life,  riches,  daily  food,  contentment,  talents,  glory  and  love.  Their  im- 
ages are  carved  in  ivory,  wood,  or  cast  in  bronze,  and  found  in  every 
house,  sold  in  the  stores,  painted  on  shop  signs,  and  seen  in  picture 
books.  The  Shinto  temples  are  very  plain,  being  constructed  of  wood 
with  thatched  roofs.  They  contain  no  idols,  but  in  the  courtyard  figures 
of  animals  are  frequent!)^  seen. 

Probably  the  most  sacred  places  of  Shintoism  are  the  shrines  of  Ise, 
visited  every  year  by  thousands  of  pilgrims,  but  Fugi-Yama,  the  sacred 
mountain,  its  snow-covered  heights  rising  over  13,000  feet  above  the 
sea,  is  first  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Japan.  It  is  a  frequent  sight 
to  see  hundreds  of  Shinto  pilgrims  gathered  on  the  mountain  side,  robed 
.  in  white,  singing  their  chants  to  the  rising  sun.  Outside  of  its  sacred 
character,  however,  this  majestic  mountain  rising  from  a  level  plain  and 
reaching  its  snow-capped  top  above  the  clouds,  possesses  a  majestic 
beauty  that  strikes  the  beholder  with  awe  and  admiration. 

Christianity,  Firearms  and  Foreigners. 

Mendez  Pinto,  a  Portuguese  adventurer,  was  probably  the  first 
European  who  landed  on  Japanese  soil.  Pinto,  while  in  China,  had  got 
•on  board  a  Chinese  junk,  commanded  by  a  pirate.  They  were  attacked 
.by  another  corsair,  their  pilot  was  killed,  and  the  vessel  was  driven  off 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  107 

•<the  coast  by  a  storm.  They  made  for  the  Liu  Kiu,  but,  unable  to  find 
.a  harbor,  put  to  sea,  and  after  twenty-three  days  beating  about,  sighted 
-the  island  of  Tanegashima  ("Island  of  the  Seed"),  off  the  south  of 
Kiushiu,  and  landed. 

The  native  histories  recount  the  first  arrival  of  Europeans  on  Tane- 
gashima in  1542,  and  note  that  year  as  the  one  in  which  fire-arms  were 
^rst  introduced.  Pinto  and  his  two  companions  were  armed  with  ar- 
quebuses, which  delighted  the  people,  ever  ready  to  accept  whatever 
•will  tend  to  their  advantage.  They  were  even  more  impressed  with  the 
novel  weapons  than  by  the  strangers.  Pinto  was  invited  by  the  daimio 
-of  Bungo  to  visit  him,  which  he  did. 

The  natives  began  immediately  to  make  guns  and  powder,  the  secret 
of  which  was  taught  them  by  their  visitors.  In  a  few  years,  as  we  know 
from  Japanese  history,  fire-arms  came  into  general  use.  To  this  day 
many  country  people  call  them  "Tanegashima."  Thus,  in  the  beginning, 
hand-in-hand,  came  foreigners,  Christianity  and  fire-arms.  To  many  a 
native  they  are  still  each  and  equal  members  of  a  trinity  of  terrors,  and 
one  is  a  synonym  of  the  other.  Christianity  to  most  of  "the  heathen" 
rStill  means  big  guns  and  powder. 

Missionary  Work  Begins. 

The  pirate  trader  who  brought  Pinto  to  Japan  cleared  twelve  hun- 
•<ired  per  cent  on  his  cargo,  and  the  three  Portuguese  returned,  loaded 
Avith  presents,  to  China.  This  new  market  attracted  hundreds  of  Portu- 
guese adventurers  to  Japan,  who  found  a  ready  welcome  at  the  hands 
■of  the  impressible  people.  The  daimios  vied  with  each  other  in  attract- 
ing the  foreigners  to  their  shores,  their  object  being  to  obtain  the 
weapons,  and  get  the  wealth  which  would  increase  their  power,  as  the 
authority  of  the.Ashikaga  shoguns  had  before  this  time  been  cast  off, 
,and  each  chief  was  striving  for  local  supremacy. 

In  1549,  Xavier  and  a  brother  priest,  with  two  Japanese  converts, 
Janded  at  Kagoshima,  in  Satsuma.  Xavier,  after  studying  the  rudiments 
,of  the  language,  beyond  which  he  never  advanced,  soon  left  the  capital 
of  this  war-like  clan,  for  the  city  had  not  been  favored  with  the  com- 


io8  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

merce  of  the  Portuguese ;  and,  as  the  missionaries  had  not  com«  to  im- 
prove the  material  resources  of  the  province,  they  were  not  warmly- 
welcomed.  He  then  went  to  Bungo  and  Nagato.  Besides  having  an  in- 
terpreter, though  unable  to  preach,  he  used  to  read  the  Gospel  of  Mat- 
thew translated  into  Japanese,  and  Romanized.  There  trade  was  flour- 
ishing and  enriching  the  daimios,  and  he  was  warmly  received  by  them. 
His  next  step  was  a  journey  to  Kioto.  The  mikado's  authority,  he 
found,  was  merely  nominal ;  the  shogun,  Ashikaga  Yoshiteru,  ruled  only 
over  a  few  provinces  around  the  capital.  Every  one's  thoughts  were  oi 
war,  and  battle  was  imminent.  He  attempted  to  preach  several  times 
in  the  streets,  but,  not  being  master  of  the  language,  failed  to  secure 
attention,  and  after  two  weeks  left  the  city.  Not  long  after,  he  departed 
from  Japan,  disheartened  by  the  reahties  of  missionary  work. 

Success  of  the  New  Faith. 

He  -had,  however,  inspired  others,  who  followed  him,  and  their  suc- 
cess was  amazingly  great.  Within  five  years  after  Xavier  visited  Kioto, 
seven  churches  were  established  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  itself,  whil-e 
scores  of  Christian  communities  had  sprung  up  in  the  south-west.  In 
1 581,  there  were  two  hundred  churches,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand native  Christians. 

In  Bungo,  in  Harima  and  Omura,  the  daimios  themselves  had  pro- 
fessed the  new  faith,  while  Nobunaga,  the  hater  of  the  Buddhists,  openly 
favored  the  Christians,  and  gave  them  eligible  sites  upon  which  to  build 
dwellings  and  churches. 

In  1583,  an  embassy  of  four  young  noblemen  was  dispatched  by  the 
Christian  daimios  of  Kiushiu  to  the  pope,  to  declare  themselves  vassals 
of  the  Holy  See.  Eight  years  afterward,  having  had  audience  of  Philip 
II.  of  Spain,  and  fulfilled  their  mission  to  the  pope  at  Rome,  they  re- 
turned, bringing  with  them  seventeen  Jesuit  missionaries.  Spanish  friars 
from  the  Philippine  Islands,  with  Dominicans  and  Augustans,  also 
flocked  to  the  country.  The  number  of  Christians  at  the  time  of  the 
highest  success  of  the  missionaries  in  Japan  was,  according  to  their  own 
figures,  six  hundred  thousand. 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  109 

Internal  Strife  and  Dissension. 

At  this  time,  political  and  religious'  strife  was  almost  universal  in 
Europe,  and  the  quarrels  of  the  various  nationalities  followed  the  buc- 
caneers, pirates,  traders,  and  missionaries  to  the  distant  seas  of  Japan. 
The  Protestant,  Dutch,  and  EngHsh  stirred  up  the  hatred  and  fear  oi 
the  Japanese  against  the  Catholics  and  finally  against  each  other.  Sf>an-v 
iards  and  Portuguese  blackened  the  character  of  their  rivals  and  as 
vigorously  abused  each  other  when  it  served  their  interest.  All  of  which 
impelled  the  shrewd  Japanese  to  contrive  how  to  use  them  one  against 
the  other,  an  art  which  they  still  understand.  All  foreigners,  but  espe- 
cially Portuguese,  then  were  slave-traders,  and  thousands  of  Japanese 
were  bought  and  sold  and  shipped  to  Macao,  in  China,  and  to  the  Philip- 
pines. The  daimio,  Hideyoshi  repeatedly  issued  decrees  threatening 
witli  death  these  slave-traders,  and  even  the  pnirchasers.  The  seaports 
of  Hirado  and  Nagasaki  were  the  resort  of  the  lowest  class  of  adventurers 
from  all  European  nations,  and  the  result  was  a  continual  series  of  up- 
roars, broils,  and  murders  among  the  foreigners. 

The  Law  Defied. 

While  Nobiinaga  lived,,  and  the  Jesuits  were  in  his  favor,  all  was 
progress  and  victory.  Hideyoshi,  thorgh  at  first  favorable  to  the  new 
religion,  issued,  in  1587,  a  decree  of  banishment  against  the  foreign 
raissionaries.  The  Jesuits  closed  their  churches  and  cliapels,  ceased  to 
jjreach  in  p-tibrlic,,  but  carried  on  their  work  in  private  as  vigorously  as 
ever,  averaging  ten  thousand  converts  a  year,  until  1 590.  The  Spanish 
mendicant  friars,  pouring  in  from  the  Philippines,  openly  defied  the 
Japanese  laws,  preaching  in  their  usual  garb  in  public.  This  aroused 
Hideyoshi's  attention,  and  bis  decree  of  expulsion  was  renewned.  Scmie 
of  the  churches  were  burned.  In  1 596,  six  Franciscan,  three  Jesuit,  and 
seventeen  Japanese  converts  were  taken  to  Nagasaki,  and  there  crucified. 
Still  the  Jesuits  resided  in  the  country.  The  Christians  next  looked  tO' 
Hideyoxi  for  their  friend  and  quasi-leader.  The  battle  of  Sekighara,  and 
the  defeat  of  Hideyori's  following-,  blew  their  hopes  to  the  winds:  and 


no  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

the  ignominious  death  of  Ishida,  Konishi,  and  Otani,  the  Christian  gen- 
erals, drove  their  adherents  to  the  verge  of  despair. 

The  new  daiinios  began  to  persecute  their  Christian  subjects  and  to 
compel  them  to  renounce  their  faith.  The  native  converts  resisted  even 
to  blood  and  the  taking-up  of  arms.  This  was  an  entirely  new  thing 
under  the  Japanese  sun.  Hitherto  the  attitude  of  the  peasantry  to  the 
government  had  been  one  of  passive  obedience  and  slavish  submission.. 

.  Measures  to  Blot  Out  Christianity. 

Color  was  given  to  this  idea  by  the  fact  that  the  foreigners  still 
secretly  or  openly  paid  court  to  Hideyori.  lyeyasu  became  more  vigi- 
lant as  his  suspicions  increased,  and,  resolving  to  crush  this  spirit  of 
independence  and  intimidate  the  foreign  emissaries,  met  every  outbreak 
with  bloody  reprisals.  In  1606,  an  edict  from  Yedo  forbade  the  exer- 
cise of  the  Christian  religion,  but  an  outward  show  of  obedience  warded 
off  active  persecution.  In  1610,  the  Spanish  friars  again  aroused  the 
wrath  of  the  government  by  defying  its  commands. 

In  161 1,  lyeyasu  obtained  documentary  proof  of  the  existence  of 
a  plot  on  the  part  of  the  native  converts  and  the  foreign  emissaries 
to  reduce  Japan  to  the  position  of  a  subject  state.  The  chief  conspirator, 
Okubo,  then  governor  of  Sado,  was  to  be  made  hereditary  ruler  by  the 
foreigners. 

lyeyasu  now  put  forth  strenuous  measures  to  root  out  utterly  what 
he  believed  to  be  a  pestilent  breeder  of  sedition  and  war.  Fresh  edicts 
were  issued,  and  in  16 14  twenty-two  Franciscan,  Dominican,  and 
Augustinian  friars,  one  hundred  and  seventeen  Jesuits,  and  hundreds 
of  native  priests  were  embarked  by  force  on  board  junks  and  sent  out 
of  the  country. 

In  161 5,  lyeyasu  pushed  matters  to  an  extreme  with  Hideyori,  who 
was  then  entertaining  some  Jesuit  priests;  and,  calling  out  the  troops 
of  Kiushiu  and  the  Kuanto,  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of  Osaka.  A  battle 
of  unusual  ferocity  and  bloody  slaughter  raged  on  the  9th  of  June,  161 5,. 
ending  in  the  burning  of  the  citadel,  and  the  total  defeat  and  death  o£ 
Hidevori  and  thousands  of  his  followers. 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  lit 

Early  Christian  Martyrs. 

The  exiled  foreign  friars,  however,  kept  secretly  returning,  appar- 
-ently  desirous  of  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  Hidetada,  the  shogun,  now 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  against  any  foreign  priest  found  in  the 
country.  lyemitsu,  his  successor,  restricted  all  foreign  commerce  to 
Nagasaki  and  Hirado;  all  Japanese  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  country 
on  pain  of  death;  and  in  1624  all  foreigners,  except  Dutch  and  Chinese, 
were  banished  from  Japan. 

The  Christians  suffered  all  sorts  of  persecutions.  They  were  wrapped 
in  straw  sacks,  piled  in  heaps  of  living  fuel,  and  set  on  fire.  All  the 
tortures  that  barbaric  hatred  or  refined  cruelty  could  invent  were  used 
to  turn  thousands  of  their  fellow-men  into  carcasses  and  ashes.  Yet 
few  of  the  natives  quailed,  or  renounced  their  faith.  They  calmly  let 
the  fire  of  wood  cleft  from  the  crosses  before  which  they  once  prayed 
consume  them,  or  walked  cheerfully  to  the  blood-pit,  or  were  flung  alive 
into  the  open  grave  about  to  be  filled  up. 

The  Way  of  the  Cross. 

If  any  one  doubt  the  sincerity  and  fervor  of  the  Christian  converts 
of  to-day,  or  the  ability  of  the  Japanese  to  accept  a  higher  form  of  faith, 
or  their  willingness  to  suffer  for  what  they  believe,  they  have  but  to 
read  the  accounts  preserved  in  English,  Dutch,  French,  Latin,  and 
Japanese,  of  various  witnesses  to  the  fortitude  of  the  Japanese  Chris- 
tians of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  annals  of  the  primitive  church 
furnished  no  instances  of  sacrifice  or  heroic  constancy  in  the  Coliseum 
or  the  Roman  arenas  that  were  not  paralleled  on  the  dry  river  beds 
and  execution  grounds  of  Japan. 

Finally,  in  1637,  at  Shimabara,  the  Christians  rose  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands in  arms,  seized  an  old  castle,  repaired  and  fortified  it,  and  raised 
the  flag  of  rebellion.  Armies  from  Kiushiu  and  the  Kuanto,  composed 
mainly  of  veterans  of  Korea  and  Osaka,  were  sent  by  the  shogun  to 
besiege  it.  A  siege  of  two  months,  by  land  and  water,  was,  however, 
necessary  to  reduce  the  fortress,  which  was  finally  done  with  the  aid- 


112  RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN. 

of  Dutch  cannon,  furnished  under  compulsidh~^by  the"  traders  at 
Deshima. 

The  intrepid  garrison,  after  great  slaughter,  surrendered,  and  then 
the  massacre  of  thirty-seven  thousand  Christians  began,  and  was  fin- 
ished by  the  hurHng  of  thousands  more  from  the  rock  of  Pappenberg, 
in  Nagasaki  harbor.  Thousands  more  were  banished  to  various  prov- 
mces,  or  put  to  death  by  torture.  Others  escaped  and  filed  to  the  island 
of  Formosa:,  joining  tkeir  breathren  already  there. 

The  Dutch  gained  the  privilege  of  a  paltry  trade  and  residence  on 
the  little  fan-shaped  island  of  I>eshima  in  front  of  Nagasaki.  Here, 
under  degrading  restrictions,  and  constant  si^Jrveillance,  lived  a  little 
company  of  less  than  twenty  Hollanders,  who  were  allowed  one  ship 
per  annum  to  come  from  the  Dutch  East  Indies  and  exchange  com- 
modities of  Japan  for  those  of  Holland. 

A  Scar  on  the  National  Memory. 

After  nearly  a  hundred  years  of  Christianity  and  foreign  intercourse, 
the  only  apparent  results  of  this  contact  with  another  religion  and 
civilization  were  the  adoption  of  gunpowder  and  firearms  as  weapons, 
the  use  of  tobacco  and  the  habit  of  smoking,  the  making  of  sponge-cake 
(still  called  Castira— the  Japanese  form  of  Castile),  the  naturalization 
into  the  language  of  a  few  foreign  words,  the  introduction  of  new  and 
strange  forms  of  disease,  and  the  permanent  addition  to  that  catalogue 
of  terrors  which  priest  and  magistrate  in  Asiatic  countries  ever  hold  as 
weapons  to  overawe  the  herd. 

So  thoroughly  was  Christianity  supposed  to  be  eradicated  before 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  that  its  existence  was  historical, 
remembered  only  as  an  awful  scar  on  the  national  memory.  It  was  left 
to  oitE  day,  siijce  the  recent  opening  of  Japan,  fo5  them  to  discover  that 
a  mighty  fire  haxl  been  smoldering  for  over  two  centuries  beneath  the 
ashes  of  persecution. 

The  Leaven  at  Work. 

As  late  3S  18J29  9«ven  persons,  s-ix  m«n  and  an  old  woman,,  were 
crucified  iw  Osaka,,  on  suspicion  of  being  Christians,  and  comraurLiGating 


C    i 


TYPE    OF    PEASANT    WOMAN,    CEN- 
TRAL RUSSIA 


TRAVELING  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


gH 

r     v**!. 

'^1  , 

i  ■- ~ ' _" ^  i 

if 

1 

)■ ,  ■  ^^^ 

fM 

' 

BLIND   BEGGAR— TYPE   OF   NORTH- 
ERN RUSSIA 


PEASANT  WOMAN   OF   MOSCOW 


"  THE  MAN  WHO  IS  WAKENQ  UP  " 
The  above  shows  a  group  of  Russian  peasants  enjoying  what  we  in  America  would 
call  a  "picnic."     The  peasants  were  for  many  years  merely  serfs  or  slaves,  but  Czar  Alexander 
II.  gave  them  their  freedom  and  they  are  slowly  working  out  their  destiny.  ' 


MONUMENT  AT  KIEV 

In  memory  of  Grand  Duke  Vladimir,  wlio  introduced  Christianity  in  Russia 


PEASANT  TYPES  OF  CENTRAL  RUSSIA 


CUSTOMS  OF  JAPANESE  LIFE 

The  traveler  in  tlie  Far  East  is  struck  by  the  quiet  way  in  which  the  Japanese  amuse 
themselves.  This  pretty  scene  under  the  wistaria-covered  trellis  is  characteristic  of  the 
social  habits  of  the  people. 


SCENE  IN  MANCHURIA  BEFORE  THE  WAR 

*"  The  Russian  soldier  is  an  excellent  fighting  man.  but,  frequently,  is  without  education. 
In  Manchuria,  however,  efforts  were  made  to  improve  liis  mental  condition,  and  at  numerous 
points  on  the  railway  military  schools  were  established. 


RELIGIONS  OF  JAPAN.  1 13 

with  foreigners.  When  the  French  brethren  of  the  Mission  ApostoHque, 
of  Paris,  came  to  Nagasaki,  in  i860,  they  found  in  the  villages  around 
them  over  ten  thousand  people  who  held  the  faith  of  their  fathers  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

The  Japanese  mental  constitution  and  moral  character  have  been 
profoundly  modified  in  turn  by  Shintoism,  Buddhism  and  Confucianism, 
but  the  early  waves  of  Christianity  that  passed  over  Japan  left  no  sedi- 
ment teeming  with  the  fertility,  rather  a  barren  waste  like  that  which 
the  river  floods  leave  in  autumn.  The  leaven  has  been  at  work,  however, 
and  the  indications  are  that  the  Christianity  of  the  present  will  bring 
about  a  revolution  in  faith  and  moral  practice. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
ANCIENT  RUSSIA 

Her  Early  Domain — Good  and  Bad  Rulers — ^When  Converted  to  Christianity — Vladimir^ 
a  Great  Name  in  Russian  History — ^Wholesale  Baptism — Translation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
tures— Destruction  of  Kief — The  Hanseatic  League — Moscow. 

THE  Russian  empire  is  comparatively  young.  It  is  practically  a 
modern  structure  in  its  political  composition. 

It  is  a  medley  of  many  peoples.  This  is  quite  as  true  of  the  Tsar's 
empire  as  of  Great  Britain,  but  the  geographical  solidity  of  Russia  might 
deceive  the  casual  observer  in  the  one  case,  whereas  the  vast  dominions 
of  Edward  VII.,  being  scattered  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  are 
obviously  of  different  tongues  and  complexions. 

So  it  is  with  Russia.  The  Tsar's  subjects  embrace  the  fair-haired 
nations  of  the  Baltic,  the  wild  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  the  Turcoman  races 
of  the  mountain  regions  to  the  south  of  the  Caspian,  Kurds,  Kalmucks, 
Mongols,  Eskimos,  and  all  the  tribes  that  stretch  from  the  Ural  east- 
ward to  the  Pacific  without  name  and  without  number.  We  have,, 
therefore,  to  consider  an  ethnological  conglomerate. 

The  Scourge  of  the  Steppes. 

The  ancients  knew  very  little  about  what  is  now  Russia  in  Europe, 
The  Greeks  had  colonies  and  factories  about  the  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea,  but  they  never  made  much  headway  toward  a  knowledge  of  the 
country.  The  people  were  called  Scythians  and  some  were  known  to 
be  farmers  and  established  -dn  settlements  along  the  Dnieper  Rlver^ 
while  others  were  nomads.  The  headquarters  of  such  government  as 
they  had  seems  to  have  been  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Azof  Sea. 

A  little  later  we  find  a  Greeco-Scythian  state  on  the  Bosphorus^ 
while  the  cities  of  Olbia  and  Chersonesos  exercised  a  civilizing  influence 

114 


ANCIENT   RUSSIA.  Iiy 

upon  the  barbarians  to  the  north.    The  Chersonese  of  the  Greeks  cor-^ 
responded  to  the  modern  Crimea. 

When  the  power  of  Rome  rose  and  became  heir  to  the  Greek  con- 
quests in  Asia,  the  wild  Scythian  was  a  source  of  constant  trouble. 
Many  a  time  Rome's  legions  were  put  to  the  test  to  keep  this  scourge 
of  the  steppes  on  their  own  side  of  the  Danube  and  away  from  the 
Mediterranean.  One  wave  after  another  of  Asiatic  tribes  pressed  west- 
ward— everywhere  a  catastrophe.  They  were  nomadic  nations  of  widely 
different  races,  which  rolled  into  Europe  one  after  the  other. 

One  of  these  movements  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the  vast  empire- 
in  eastern  Scythia  by  the  Goths  under  Hermaneric.  They  were  driven 
out  and  overthrown  by  a  cloud  of  Finnish  people,  Avars,  Bulgarians^. 
Magyars  and  Khazars,  who  followed  upon  the  heels  of  the  Huns.  In 
the  midst  of  this  melee  the  Slavs  came  to  the  front  and  appeared  ia 
history  under  their  proper  name. 

Rurik  the  Peacemaker. 

The  seat  of  the  Roman  empire,  having  now  in  the  fourth  century 
been  established  at  Constantinople,  a  struggle  between  the  Romans 
and  the  Greeks  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  barbarians  on  the  other,  ensued 
for  the  mastering  of  the  Balkan  peninsula. 

We  may  pass  over  a  long  series  of  more  or  less  mythical  and  unim- 
portant semi-savage  wars  and  migrations  until  we  approach  the  historic 
period  when  the  Slavs  began  to  take  a  national  name  and  form,  under 
the  name  of  Russians,  a  word  which  comes  from  the  appellation  of  one- 
of  their  tribes  known  as  the  Russ  or  Rossani. 

In  the  midst  of  dissension  and  rebellious  faction  we  find  a  noted- 
Varangian  chief,  Rurik,  who  appears  upon  the  scene  as  peacemaker^ 
with  the  result  that  he  restored  quiet,  suppressed  factions,  made  him- 
self master  of  the  country  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Russian 
empire.  After  a  reign  of  fifteen  years  and  a  career  of  victorious  con- 
quest Rurik  died,  leaving  his  infant  empire  to  his  son  Igor,  who  was  a- 
child  and  whose  crown  was  kept  for  him  by  a  kinsman  named  Oleg^/ 
who  assumed  the  reins  of  power  in  the  year  879. 


Ii6  ANCIENT   RUSSIA. 

The  Throne  Held  in  Trust. 

Oleg  existed  only  for  the  aggrandizement  of  his  country,  which  he 
sought  to  accomplish  without  scruple,  so  far  as  means  to  his  end  were 
concerned.  He  had  but  one  purpose  at  heart,  and  that  was  to  make  a 
greater  Russia.     He  was  a  tyrant,  a  soldier  and  brute. 

His  capital  was  at  Novgorod,  called  "The  Great,"  but  as  he  observed 
that  the  city  of  Kief  had  a  milder  climate  and  was  farther  advanced  in 
civilization,  he  decided  to  move. 

There  was  a  little  difficulty  in  the  way,  because  it  did  not  belong  to 
his  dominions,  being  under  the  rulership  of  another  family  of  princes. 
He  resolved  to  remove  them  from  his  path.  Under  a  pretense  of  mak- 
ing a  treaty,  he  drew  them  into  an  ambuscade  and,  capturing  them, 
had  them  put  to  death.  Proud  of  this  nefarious  crime,  he  issued  a 
proclamation  in  which  he  declared,  "Let  Kief  henceforth  be  the  mother 
of  all  Russian  cities."  In  accordance  with  his  words  it  remained  the 
capital  of  the  empire  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Igor  Comes  to  His  Own. 

Oleg  died  in  912  A.  D.,  having  reigned  thirty-three  years,  during 
which  time  he  had  greatly  enlarged  and  consolidated  the  government. 
At  his  death  his  kinsman,  Igor,  who  seems  to  have  simply  looked  on 
wp  to  that  point,  succeeded  to  the  crown.  He  was  nearly  forty  years 
of  age  at  the  time  he  came  to  his  father's  throne.  He  appears  to  have 
been  a  well-m.eaning  man,  but  as  might  have  been  expected  from  the 
fact  that  he  allowed  Oleg  to  hold  the  government  so  long,  he  proved 
to  be  an  inefficient  sovereign. 

Fortunately,  he  was  married  and  his  wife,  Olga,  was  a  woman  of 
more  than  ordinary  ability.  She  was  likewise  ambitious,  and  poor  Igor 
seems  to  have  been  little  else  than  her  husband.  What  was  done  for 
Russia  during  this  reign  she  seems  to  have  been  responsible  for,  and 
at  Igor's  death,  in  ,945,  she  became  regent.  Their  young  son  and  heir, 
not  being  yet  fitted  for  the  responsibilities  of  government,  Olga  took 
charge  of  public  affairs  with  the  dignity  and  title  of  Queen. 


ANCIENT    RUSSIA.  .117 

A  Famous  Character  in  History. 

This  woman  is  a  favorite  character  in  Russian  story.  Many  old 
romances  hung  about  her  and  many  ballads  were  tuned  to  her  praise. 
She  is  represented  as  having  been  a  very  beautiful  peasant  girl,  whom 
Igor  met  while  traveling  through  the  country  in  disguise,  and  who 
managed  to  win  her  without  disclosing  his  true  rank.  It  was  during 
her  reign  that  Russia  became  Christian,  she  being  the  first  sovereign  to 
renounce  paganism. 

She  publicly  embraced  Christianity  at  Constantinople,  being  baptized 
into  the  Greek-Catholic  church.  The  country  at  that  time,  however, 
would  not  accept  Christianity  and  Queen  Olga's  efforts  were  unavailing. 
The  people  clung  tenaciously  to  their  old  idols,  and  the  stone  gods  of 
the  ancient  Scythians  were  still  worshipped.  The  chief  of  the  Russian 
deities  was  called  Perune  and  about  this  divinity  hung  all  sorts  of  gro- 
tesque superstitions  to  which  the  people  were  wedded. 

Queen  Olga's  heir  and  son,  Sviatoslav,  to  his  mother's  grief  and 
disgust,  remained  a  true  pagan.  He  was  a  chivalrous  and  valiant  prince, 
however,  and  the  idol  of  his  army.  He  was  emphatically  a  soldier 
monarch,  succeeding  to  the  crown  in  the  year  957.  He  was  ever  at  the 
front  with  his  forces,  whose  dangers  and  privations  he  shared,  living 
in  all  respects  like  the  humblest  soldier  in  the  ranks.  He  won  fame  as  a 
sovereign  in  war  and  conquest,  and,  under  his  administration,  Russia 
grew  in  territory  and  power.  At  his  death,  however,  which  occurred  ia 
the  year  972,  there  was  a  war  over  the  succession. 

A  Celebrated  Sovereign. 

He  had  three  sons  who  fought  for  the  crown.  In  980,  Vladimir,  a 
great  name  in  Russian  history,  the  youngest  of  the  brothers,  gained  the 
sole  dominion.  He  made  Russia  Christian;  he  undertook  a  careful 
investigation  of  all  known  religions,  he  conferred  with  learned  men  and 
received  those  doctors  of  divinity  who  had  made  theology  a  profession; 
he  consulted  Monks,  Buddhists,  Brahmins  and  expounders  of  various 
other  doctrines,  taking  ample  time  and  no  end  of  trouble  in  the  enquiry. 


ii8  ANCIENT   RUSSIA. 

He  finally  accepted  Christianity  and  forthwith  aboHshed  paganism 
and  ordered  his  people  to  the  rivers  to  be  baptized  and,  according  to  the 
stories  which  have  come  down  to  us,  he  caused  his  words  to  be  obeyed 
and  his  subjects  proceeded  by  thousands  to  carry  out  the  order.  It 
is  said  that  thirty  thousand  were  baptized  into  the  Greek  church  upon 
the  same  day  as  their  sovereign,  who  received,  when  he  was  christened, 
the  name  Basilius. 

Out  of  compliment  to  the  young  sovereign,  who  had  thus  embraced 
the  true  faith,  the  Greek  emperor  gave  his  daughter  Anne  in  marriage 
to  his  brother  of  Russia,  and  henceforth  the  country  belonged  to  the 
patriarchate  of  Constantinople,  and  Kief  became  the  cathedral  city  of 
the  Russian  empire. 

The  Heroic  Epoch  of  Russia. 

Under  this  reign  the  idols  were  destroyed,  churches  were  built,  learn- 
ing and  the  arts  were  cultivated.  This  regime  is  considered  the  heroic 
■epoch  of  Russia.  It  was  the  age  of  poetic  enthusiasm,  with  "Sunny 
Prince  Vladimir"  as  the  topic  of  the  minstrel,  who  sang  the  glory  of  his 
reign.  Historians  have  called  Vladimir  "The  Great,"  because  of  his 
superiority  over  those  who  had  gone  before  him,  and  because  of  his 
conspicuous  brilliancy  in  the  rude  age  in  which  he  lived. 

It  is  shocking  to  note,  however,  that  this  "Saint"  Vladimir,  as  the 
Russians  called  him,  with  all  of  his  greatness  and  chivalric  qualities, 
murdered  his  brother  and  was  a  polygamist.  Wise  as  was  this  monarch 
in  statecraft,  in  his  death  he  made  a  great  blunder  in  disposing  of  the 
government  by  dividing  the  empire  among  his  seven  sons.  By  so  doing 
other  divisions  followed,  until  finally  Russia,  which  had  been  unified 
and  solidified  by  the  efforts  of  centuries,  was  torn  to  shreds. 

Its  power  was  frittering  away;  its  political  importance  disappeared, 
rand  the  people  were  re-plunged  into  barbarism,  from  which  they  were 
just  emerging.  Long  and  sanguinary  wars  ensued  among  the  rival 
brothers  and  their  partisans,  until  finally,  in  1026,  Jaroslov  and  Matislas 
made  amicable  arrangement  to  rule  jointly,  which  they  did  for  ten  years, 
when  his  brother  'having  died,  Jaroslov  assumed  sole  control  of  the 
shapeless  colossus  v.^hich  the  empire  had  become. 


ANCIENT   RUSSIA.  119 

Jaroslov  the  Wise. 

This  monarch  is  honored  in  Russian  annals  by  a  surname,  "The 
Wise."  He  is  also  sometimes  called  "The  Great,"  quite  a  common 
appellation  for  Russian  sovereigns,  at  least  among  Russians.  This 
ruler  seems  to  have  been  a  student.  He  had  a  taste  for  making  laws 
and  he  prepared  a  code  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  among  his  sub- 
jects upon  recognized  principles  of  right  and  wrong. 

He  first  established  schools  quite  generally,  and,  although  himself 
a  stout  adherent  of  the  Greek  church,  he  suflfered  no  persecutions  for 
the  sake  of  religion.  He  caused  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  be  translated 
into  the  Russian  tongue,  and  is  said  to  have  transcribed  several  copies 
with  his  own  hand,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  he  died  just  five  hun- 
dred years  before  Gutenberg  had  begun  to  print.  As  might  have  been 
expected  from  a  man  given  to  letters  and  the  law,  he  was  a  good  poli- 
tician and  arranged  marriages  for  the  members  of  his  family  with  a  view 
to  the  dynastic  value  of  the  alliances. 

His  sister  became  Queen  of  Poland,  and  his  three  daughters,  Queens 
of  Norway,  France  and  Hungary  respectively.  For  his  sons  he  selected 
wives  who  were  Greek,  German  and  English  princesses.  This  sover- 
<iign,  also,  following  the  example  of  his  father,  divided  up  the  realm 
^mong  his  five  sons.  He  died  in  1054,  and  his  last  act  in  the  division  of 
the  country  proved  equally  disastrous  as  in  the  previous  case,  his  five 
sons  fighting  against  each  other  to  the  bitter  end,  and  in  turn  leaving 
similar  quarrels  to  their  own  posterity. 

Famous  in  Politics  and  Peace. 

During  the  next  hundred  and  eighty  years  Russia  was  ruled  by  no 
less  than  seventeen  princes  and  the  country  made  little  progress,  no 
name  being  conspicuous  among  them  until  we  come  to  Vladimir  2nd, 
surnamed  Monomachus,  who  ruled  from  11 13  to  1126.  He  was  crowned 
in  1 1 14  and  stands  out  in  history  as  a  great  genius  in  an  age  of  darkness 
-and  barbarism. 

He  waged  no  wars  but  those  which  the  safety  and  the  integrity  of 


I20  ANCIENT    RUSSIA. 

his  country  demanded.  His  greatness  was  not  demonstrated  so  much 
upon  the  field  of  battle  as  in  the  arts  of  politics  and  peace.  No  stain 
rests  upon  his  character.  On  his  death  bed,  like  the  late  General  Grant, 
he  wrote  the  record  of  his  life,  which  he  interspersed  with  much  good 
advice  and  wise  counsel  for  his  children  and  his  successors.  He  ex- 
horted his  followers  to  be  fathers  to  the  orphans  and  judges  for  the 
widow.  He  was  opposed  to  capital  punishment,  saying,  "Put  to  death 
neither  the  innocent  nor  the  guilty,  for  nothing  is  more  sacred  than  the 
life  and  the  soul  of  a  Christian.  Praise  God  and  love  men.  It  is  neither 
fasting  nor  solitude,  nor  monastic  vows  that  can  give  you  eternal  life 
but  beneficence  alone." 

War  Over  the  Succession. 

ft 

This  prince  had  come  to  the  throne  practically  by  vote  of  the  people, 
not  being  in  direct  succession,  and  having  twice  refused  the  crown  be- 
queathed to  him  by  the  dying  king.  It  seems  that  he  finally  took  it  only 
to  save  the  country  from  fratricidal  strife  and  ruin.  He  reigned  thirteen 
years  with  signal  success  and  was  succeeded  by  chaos. 

There  were  two  branches  of  his  family  which  engaged  in  bloody 
war  over  the  succession.  His  first  wife  was  Gyda,  daughter  of  Harold, 
the  last  Saxon  king  of  England.  Mstislas,  the  son  of  this  marriage, 
succeeded  to  the  throne.  He  inherited  the  virtues  of  both  parents,  and 
in  a  brief  reign  of  six  years  carried  out  the  wise  and  pacific  policy  of 
his  father,  but  his  rule  was  too  short,  unfortunately,  and,  upon  his  death 
in  1 132,  the  struggles  between  the  warring  factions  at  the  head  of  the 
various  principalities  had  full  swing.  In  the  course  of  thirty-two  years 
eleven  princes  grasped  the  sceptre,  each  holding  it  only  until  another 
more  powerful  wrested  it  from  his  hands. 

Moscow  Assumes  Importance. 

The  Poles,  taking  advantage  of  the  distracted  state  of  affairs,  invaded 
the  empire  on  the  one  hand,  while  the  Tartars  swept  out  of  Asia  and 
overrun  the  country  from  the  east.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle.  Kief, 
"the  Mother  of  Cities,"  was  destroyed,  being  given  over  to  pillage  hv 
the  forces  of  the  princes  of  Moscow  and  Gallitch.     With  the  warriii-- 


ANCIENT   RUSSIA.  121 

parties  one  capital  after  the  other  arose  to  pre-eminence.  Upon  the 
destruction  of  Kief,  Moscow  began  to  assume  new  importance.  Nov- 
gorod, always  a  seat  of  power  of  greater  or  less  magnitude,  likewise 
had  its  ups  and  downs. 

The  Institutions  of  Novgorod. 

In  considering  the  early  history  of  Russia,  Novgorod  deserves  more 
than  a  passing  mention.  From  the  most  remote  antiquity  this  city  was 
the  political  center  of  Northwest  Russia,  and  from  her  location  had  a 
character  of  people  and  institutions  peculiar  to  herself  and  quite  inde- 
pendent of  Eastern  Russia  in  many  particulars.  Her  character  was 
Gothic  rather  than  Asiatic,  or  Tartar.  While  her  people  seem  to  have 
possessed  an  insatiable  hankering  after  a  prince,  the  government  was 
in  reality  a  republic,  in  some  points  resembling  that  of  the  free  cities  of 
Germany  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

According  to  tradition  her  foundations  were  laid  by  the  Slavs  of 
the  Ilmen,  whose  origin  is  uncertain,  some  authorities  holding  that 
they  came  from  tribes  originally  situated  in  the  South,  while  others 
maintaining  that  they  were  Slavs  of  the  Baltic  from  the  earliest  antiquity. 
At  any  rate,  we  find  the  Novgorodians  at  the  opening  of  Russian  his- 
tory at  the  head  of  a  confederation  of  tribes  which  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  course  of  events,  and  which  was  able  by  its  strength 
to  protect  itself  from  many  of  the  calamities  which  befell  other  capitals, 
notably  Kief. 

Resembled  a  Modem  City. 

From  very  ancient  times  the  city  was  divided  into  two  parts,  sepa- 
rated by  the  course  of  the  Volkhof  which  rises  in  Lake  Ilmen  and 
empties  into  the  Ladoga.  On  the  right  bank  was  the  side  of  St.  Sophia, 
where  Jaroslov  built  the  celebrated  cathedral,  and  where  the  Kremlin 
was  located,  enclosing  both  the  palaces  of  the  archbishop  and  the  mov- 
able prince.  This  is  the  site  of  the  famous  Russian  monument  which 
was  consecrated  in  1862.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  river  was  the  side 
of  commerce,  the  two  parts  of  the  city  being  united  by  a  grand  bridge, 
often  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  Novgorod. 


-122  ANCIENT    RUSSIA. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  city  was  composed  of  certain  quarters,  in 
-each  of  Avhich  dwelt  respectively  separate  nationalities  or  trades,  just 
as  in  ancient  Rome,  Pompey,  after  he  conquered  the  Samnites,  brought 
them  to  the  capital  and  planted  them  across  the  Tiber  between  the 
river  and  the  Janiculum  hill,  a  division  which  retains  its  character  to 
the  present  day,  under  the  name  of  The  Trastevere.  To-day  there  is 
the  "Ghetto,"  the  quarter  of  Jews,  and  in  Paris  we  find  the  "Latin 
Quarter,"  and  in  London  and  New  York  the  great  "East  Side"  settle- 
ments, where  races  and  classes  find  a  congenial  home  in  a  colony  within 
the  city.  So  in  Novgorod  we  find  allusions  to  the  quarters  of  the 
Prussians,  the  Slavs,  the  porters,  the  carpenters  and  so  on. 

A  Population  o£  One  Hundred  Thousand. 

Gilbert  of  Lannoy,  v;ho  visited  the  republic  about  141 3,  has  left  a 
-description  of  it,  in  the  course  of  which  he  says,  describing  the  city  of 
his  day,  "Novgorod  is  a  prodigiously  large  town  situated  in  a  beautiful 
plain  in  the  midst  of  vast  forests.  The  soil  is  low,  subject  to  inundations, 
and  marshy  in  places.  The  town  is  surrounded  by  imperfect  ramparts, 
formed  of  gabions ;  the  towers  are  of  stone." 

Portions  of  these  fortifications  alluded  to  above  still  exist,  by  which 
we  are  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  ancient 
city.  She  seems  to  have  had  within  her  walls  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  people,  while  within  her  domains,  which  stretched  northward 
to  Lapland  and  eastward  to  the  Ural  mountains  and  northeast  into 
Siberia,  she  could  not  have  had  less  than  three  hundred  thousand 
subjects. 

Elected  Their  Ruler. 

These  rude  republicans  were  governed  by  a  burgomaster  or  mayor, 
liut  at  the  same  time  they  always  desired  a  prince,  whom  they  selected 
from  the  large  stock  constantly  on  hand  throughout  the  empire.  The 
crown,  however,  was  firmly  held  in  check,  and  whenever  the  people 
tired  of  their  nominal  ruler  they  simply  discharged  him  and  selected 
a  successor.    In  the  meantime  the  city  took  little  part  in  the  wars  which 


ANCIENT   RUSSIA.  123 

raged  between  rival  factions,  being  too  strong  to  make  attack  safe  and 
caring  little  for  the  turbulent  questions  which  disturbed  the  Russians 
of  the  far-away  Dnieper. 

The  spirit  of  the  place  may  be  gathered  from  a  tradition  which  has 
come  down  to  us,  to  the  effect  that  when  upon  one  occasion  a  grand 
prince  of  Kief  proposed  to  place  his  son  over  them  they  sent  a  formal 
message  advising  his  father  that  they  would  receive  him,  but  unless  he 
had  a  spare  head  he  had  better  keep  the  young  man  at  home. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  power  of  a  prince  once  chosen  rested 
practically  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  political  party  which  had  selected 
him.  It  thus  happened  that  when  the  opposing  party  grew  too  strong 
he  was  dethroned.  In  this  particular  we  observe  a  resemblance  between 
the  position  of  the  prince  and  that  of  the  prime  minister  of  a  modern 
constitutional  monarchy  such  as  Great  Britain  or  Italy. 

From  the  circumstance  that  no  dynasty  of  princes  could  firmly 
establish  itself  at  Novgorod  and  no  royal  line  be  built  up  as  the  head 
of  a  military  aristocracy  of  titled  landholders,  it  follows  that  the 
republic  kept  her  ancient  liberties  and  customs  intact  under  the  short 
reigns  of  her  elected  monarchs.  The  town  was  more  powerful  than 
the  prince,  who  reigned  by  virtue  of  a  constitution  which  was  the  crea- 
tion of  the  citizens.  Each  new  monarch  was  compelled  to  obey  the  laws 
and  observe  the  provisions  of  this  constitution,  which  was  devised  to 
limit  the  power  of  the  princes  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  people. 

Various  Classes  of  Society. 

From  a  social  point  of  view  the  constitution  of  Novgorod  somewhat 
resembled  that  of  Poland.  Great  inequality  then  existed  between  the 
different  classes  of  society.  There  was  an  aristocracy  which,  while  not 
depending  upon  the  crown  but  rather  of  it,  was  extremely  arrogant  and 
powerful.  First  there  was  a  sort  of  political  nobility  called  the  Boyards, 
whose  intestine  quarrels  constantly  agitated  the  city.  Then  came  a 
kind  of  inferior  nobility;  then  the  different  classes  composed  of  the 
merchants,  laborers  and  artisans,  and,  last  of  all,  the  peasants  of  the 
rural  districts. 


124  ANCIENT   RUSSIA. 

The  merchants  formed  an  association  of  their  own,  a  sort  of  guilds 
around  the  Church  of  St.  John.  Military  societies  also  existed — bands 
of  independent  adventurers  who  sometimes  made  independent  forays 
afar  on  the  great  rivers  of  northern  Russia,  engaging  in  indiscriminate 
pillage  or  establishing  military  colonies  among  the  Finnish  tribes. 

The  soil  of  Novgorod  was  sandy,  marshy  and  unproductive,  a  cir- 
cumstance which  led  to  periodical  famines  and  pestilences,  resulting  in 
great  loss  of  population.  These  conditions  also  compelled  Novgorod 
to  extend  itself  in  order  to  live,  and  she  therefore  became  perforce  a 
commercial  and  colonizing  city. 

Thus  we  see  them  exchanging  iron  and  weapons  for  the  precious 
metal  found  in  the  mines  of  the  Urals  and  making  their  way  around  the 
cataracts  of  the  Dnieper  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  spreading  themselves 
over  all  the  shores  of  the  Greek  empire.  They  traded  also  with  the 
Baltic  Slavs  and  with  the  Germans.  When  the  latter  began  to  dispute 
the  commerce  of  the  Baltic  with  the  Scandinavians,  Novgorod  became 
the  seat  of  a  German  depot. 

The  vicious  commercial  instinct  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the 
Teutonic  race  to-day  seems  to  have  been  just  as  marked  in  the  early 
times  when  the  Germans  first  got  a  foothold  in  Novgorod,  in  the 
twelfth,  century. 

The  Germans  in  Control. 

When  the  Hanseatic  League  became  the  mistress  of  the  North  we 
find  the  Germans  in  absolute  control  of  commerce.  They  obtained 
considerable  privileges,  even  the  right  to  acquire  pasture  land.  They 
fortified  their  depots  with  stockades  of  thick  planks,  where  no  Russians 
had  the  right  to  penetrate  without  their  leave.  This  German  trading 
company  was  governed  by  the  most  narrow  and  exclusive  ideas. 

No  Russian  was  allowed  to  belong  to  the  company,  nor  to  carry  the 
wares  of  a  German,  an  Englishman  or  a  Fleming.  The  company  only 
authorized  a  wholesale  trade,  and  to  maintain  her  goods  at  a  high  price. 
She  forbade  imports  beyond  a  certain  amount. 

During  three  centuries  this  league  concentrated  in  her  own  hands 
all  the   external   commerce   of  northern   Russia,   with  the   result   that 


ANCIENT   RUSSIA.  125 

Novgorod  and  her  sister  city,  Pskof,  were  deprived  of  free  commerce 
with  the  West,  abandoned  to  the  good  pleasure  and  pitiless  egotism  of 
the  German  merchants. 

But  while  Novgorod  and  Northern  Russia,  of  which  she  was  the 
center,  fell  under  the  commercial  sway  of  the  Germans,  and  finally  was 
obliged  to  bow  the  knee  to  Moscow,  the  church  had  steadily  grown  in 
power  and  at  length  became  thoroughly  established  throughout  the 
north. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Forces. 

The  church  constitution  of  Russia  presents  some  special  features. 
In  the  rest  of  the  empire  the  clergy  was  Russian  Orthodox,  but  at 
Novgorod  it  was  Novgorodian.  It  was  not  until  the  twelfth  century 
that  the  Baltic  Slavs,  who  had  been  the  last  to  abandon  paganism,  were 
allowed  to  have  an  archbishop  who  was  neither  from  Constantinople 
or  Kief.  From  this  time  forward,  however,  their  chief  ecclesiastic  was 
one  of  their  own  race,  elected  by  the  citizens. 

He  was  at  once  installed  in  his  Episcopal  palace,  without  waiting 
approval  from  the  head  of  the  Russian  church,  and  at  once  became  the 
chief  personage  of  the  republic.  In  public  acts  and  proclamations  his 
name  was  always  placed  ahead  of  that  of  the  prince  and  burgomaster. 

Thus  we  have  essentially  a  national  church  which  lasted  so  long  as 
Novgorod  maintained  its  pre-eminence,  and  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Sophia 
was  one  of  the  grand  dignitaries  of  Europe,  while  his  revenues  would 
suffice  the  treasury  of  a  kingdom.  But  with  a  rise  of  the  Muscovite 
princes,  the  Novgorodian  church  naturally  became  subject  to  that  of 
Russia  in  general,  whose  patriarch  has  been  established  at  Constan- 
tinople. 

We  have  thus  reviewed  hastily  the  beginnings  of  Russia,  with  a 
glance  at  its  chief  personages  and  a  sketch  of  the  racial,  ecclesiastical 
and  commercial  forces  which  have  worked  together  for  the  develop- 
ment of  society  under  civilized  conditions,  and  which  combined  to 
prepare  a  foundation  for  the  vast  fabric  which  was  subsequently  to  be 
erected  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  X. 
MEDIAEVAL  RUSSIA 

Eussia's  Historical  Development — New  Races  of  Men — The  Tartar  Invasion — Alexander- 
Nevsky — Value  of  Diplomacy  with  Force — ^Mingling  of  Tartars  with  Russians — 
Blood  Tax — The  Mongol  Yoke — The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Lithuania — Shares  the  Fate 
of  Poland. 

DURING  the_ twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  a  series  of  three  great 
invasions  occurred  which  were  destined  to  modify  the  historical 
development  of  Russia,  and  three  new  races  of  men  were  to  make  them- 
selves felt  for  all  time  upon  the  nation.  The  Russians  of  the  Northwest 
were  destined  to  become  Germanized,  while  Russia  of  the  East  and 
South  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Tartar-Mongols,  and  Western 
Russia  with  the  Lithuanians. 

The  Evolution  of  a  Race. 

Lithuania,  if  we  may  name  a  country  from  its  people,  was  a  not  very 
clearly  defined  region  of  central  Europe.  It  extended  from  the  south- 
eastern shore  of  the  Baltic  sea  between  the  mouth  of  the  river  Vistula 
and  the  Duna  southward  through  a  region  now  comprised  within  mod- 
ern Prussia,  parts  of  Poland  and  the  Western  Russian  province.  The 
region  consisted,  in  a  great  part,  of  a  fiat,  marshy,  wooded  country,  with 
many  lakes.  These  people  were  divided  into  tribes,  and  they  continue 
under  various  names  to  occupy  the  same  territory  in  which  they  lived  at 
the  beginning  of  history.  Their  origin  is  unknown.  Their  principal 
branch  has  given  its  name  to  modern  Prussia. 

The  Livonians  were  a  tribe  also  living  upon  the  Baltic  farther  to 
the  north  and  were  of  Finnish  origin.  This  region  was  considered  by 
the  Russian  princes  and  republics  of  the  northwest  as  subject  to  their 
dominion.     A  son  of  Vladimir,  Monomachus,  had  conquered  a  portion 

126 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  127- 

of  the  territory,  but  German  merchants  and  Latin  missionaries  appeared 
upon  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  even  pressing  toward  the  north  and  east, 
and  the  country  fell  temporarily  under  the  influence  of  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

The  monk,  Meinhard,  sent  by  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  converted 
the  Livonians,  and  was  created  Bishop  of  Livonia,  but  under  the  cloak 
of  Christianity  the  Germans  really  brought  to  the  Baltic  tribes  the  ruin 
of  their  national  independence.  The  German  merchant  and  the  German 
missionary  came  together,  and  the  apostle  Meinhard  built  a  church  and 
a  fortress  at  Uexkull  in  1187.  From  this  day  these  tribes  lost  their  lands 
and  their  liberty,  and  soon  saw  to  what  this  mission  was  leading.  They 
rose  against  the  missionaries,  and,  in  1198,  the  Bishop  of  Livonia  lost 
his  life  on  the  battlefield.  The  natives  returned  to  their  pagan  gods  and 
plunged  into  the  Dwina  to  wash  off  the  baptism  which  they  had  re- 
ceived. 

The  Sword  Bearers. 

Pope  Innocent  III.,  hearing  the  direful  news  of  what  had  happened 
in  the  north,  preached  a  crusade  against  them,  and  Albert  of  Buxhewden, 
their  third  bishop,  and  the  father  of  German  authority  in  Livonia,  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene  w^ith  a  fleet  of  twenty-three  ships  and  built  the 
town  of  Riga,  which  became  his  capital  in  the  year  1200.  Next  year  he 
installed  the  order  of  the  Brothers  of  the  Army  of  Christ,  or  the  "Sword- 
Bearers,"  to  whom  the  bishop  gave  the  statutes  of  the  Templars.  They 
wore  a  white  mantle  wnth  a  red  cross  on  the  shoulders.  Most  of  these 
knights  were  Westphalians  and  Saxons;  Vinno  Rohrbach  was  their  first 
Grand  Master. 

The  Livonians,  terrified  at  the  impending  crisis,  appealed  for  help  to 
the  Princes  of  Polotsk,  and  marched  bravely  to  attack  the  crusaders  at 
Riga  and  suffered  signal  defeat.  This  w-as  in  the  year  1206.  The 
Princes  of  Polotsk,  however,  came  upon  the  field  and  laid  siege  to  the 
city  during  the  absence  of  the  bishop,  but  it  was  saved  from  capture 
by  the  timely  arrival  of  a  German  fleet.  There  w^ere  various  causes, 
which  led  to  the  success  of  the  "Knights  of  the  Sword."     In  the  first- 


128  MEDIAEVAL   RUSSIA. 

place,  the  internal  quarrels  at  Novgorod  prevented  this  powerful  city 
from  watching  over  Russian  interest  as  she  should  have  done  in  keep- 
ing with  her  claims  to  power  and  dignity  among  Slavonian  capitals. 

Again  the  Princes  of  Polotsk,  who  came  forward  as  the  chief  cham- 
pions of  the  Livonians,  were  a  weak  set.  Again  many  of  the  Slavonic 
tribes  failed  to  do  their  duty  against  the  invaders,  on  account  of  not 
having  yet  come  to  a  realization  of  their  proper  relations  to  the  nation 

as  a  whole. 

Under  German  Authority. 

The  knights  were  also  far  superior  in  arms  and  military  science. 
The  German  fortresses  were  solidly  built  of  hewn  stone,  while  those  of 
the  natives  were  simply  rude  pits,  surrounded  by  earth  and  loose  stones. 
While  they  showed  ample  bravery,  they  vainly  tried  with  their  rude 
appliances  to  pull  down  the  walls  and  palisades  of  the  invaders. 

A  little  later  the  "Sword  Bearers"  assumed  the  offensive  and  pushed 
farther,  by  a  series  of  campaigns,  into  the  Russian  country.  They 
defeated  the  Livonians  and  Semgalli  of  the  Dwina,  the  Tchouds  of  the 
north  and  the  Letts  to  the  southeast.  If  a  tribe  declined  baptism  and 
submission  it  was  delivered  over  to  destruction  by  fire  and  sword. 
When  it  submitted,  hostages  were  taken,  fortified  castles  were  built 
upon  commanding  places  in  its  territory,  or  old  fortresses  were  rehabil- 
itated under  German  occupancy.  In  this  manner  Riga,  Kircholm,  Creuz- 
burg  and  other  strongholds  were  built  on  the  Dwina,  and  Neuhausen, 
Wolmar,  Wenden,  Kremon,  Fellin,  and  Weissenstein,  among  other  im- 
portant places,  were  established  in  various  parts  of  the  conquered  ter- 
ritory. 

In  the  North,  Kolyvan,  the  modern  Revel,  was  purchased  from  the 
King  of  Denmark  to  the  intense  outrage  of  the  Finnish  pride,  because 
it  was  the  site  of  the  grave  of  the  chief  hero  of  their  mythology.  The 
country  was  divided  into  counties,  some  of  which  belonged  to  the  order 
of  the  "Sword  Bearers,"  by  whom  they  were  distributed  among  the 
knights,  and  the  rest  fell  to  the  share  of  the  Archbishop.  The  new 
towns  received  constitutions  like  the  merchant  cities  of  Lubet^k,  Bremen 
and  Hamburg,  the  chief  of  which  v/as  Riga. 


FLOATING  BLACKSMITH  SHOP 


AN  ARTILLERY  CAMP 


HOSPITAL  SUPPLIES 


WAITINa  FOR  ORDERS 


SCENES  OF  RUSSIAN  ARMY  LIFE  IN  MANCHURIA 

From  photographs  taken  by  the  author,  J.  Martin  Miller. 

Copyright,  1904,  by  J.  Martin  MilUr, 


JAPANESE  TRANSPORTATION  METHODS. 

The  pack  saddle  consists  of  two  padded  sides  joined  by  an  iron  arch.     The  packages 
are  tied  to  or  hung  upon  the  saddle. 


JAPANESE  INFANTRY  ON  THE  MARCH. 

The   advance   of   the   Japanese   army   toward   Liaoyang   was   a    complete   success, 
deceived  the  enemy  and  filled  him  with  a  doubt  as  to  the  true  direction  of  attack. 


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UNITED  STATES  MILITAEY  ATTACHES. 


Ilrig.  fien.  Henry  T.  Allen. 
Chief  of  Constabulary,  I'hll- 
ipplne  Islands. 

Captain  Carl  Kelchman, 
17th   Infantry. 

Captain  .T.  E.  Kuhn,  Corps 
of  Engineers. 


2.     Col.  John  B.  Kerr.  Cleneral 
Staff,  i;.  S.  Army. 

5.     Captain    Andre    \V 
ster,  9th  Infantry. 

8.     Cnpt.  Wm.  V.  .Tudson.  En- 
gineer of  Corps,   I'.   S.  A. 


X  Lieut.-Col.  Oliver  E.  Wood, 
Military  Attache,  Tokio,  Ja- 
pan. 
Brew-  6.  Capt.  Seaton  Schroeder, 
U.  S.  X.,  Chief  Intelligence 
Officer. 

9.  Major  W.  D.  Beach.  iOth 
Cavalry.  Chief  Bureau  Mili- 
tary Intelligence. 


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MEDIAEVAL   RUSSLA.  129 

Still  the  invaders  had  troubles  of  their  own.  The  Archbishop  of 
Riga  and  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  often  quarreled  over  their 
respective  rights,  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  for  dissensions 
destined  to  bring  about  the  decline  of  the  institution. 

The  Inhabitants  Become  Serfs. 

About  the  year  1225  another  military  brotherhood  was  established 
among  the  Prussian  Lithuanians  called  the  Teutonic  Order,  which  built 
the  cities  of  Thorn,  Marienburg,  Elbing  and  Koenigsberg.  Tlieir  em- 
blem was  a  black  cross,  and  they  appear  always  to  have  been  friendly 
with  the  red  cross  knights,  the  object  of  both  being,  principally,  plunder. 
The  two  orders  united  in  1237  and  became  one  association,  the  grand 
master  of  the  Teutonic  Order  taking  precedence  over  all  the  others. 

In  the  meantime  the  original  Baltic  tribes  of  Livonians,  Letts  and 
Finns  became  serfs,  being  attached  to  the  land  after  the  manner  of  the 
Saxons  of  England  under  the  Norman  conquerors. 

The  Tartar  Invasion. 

The  thirteenth  century  was  signalized  in  Russian  history  by  a  greater 
event  than  any  which  had  preceded  it.  This  was  the  Tartar  invasion. 
The  country  was  overrun  and  subjugated  by  Asiatic  hordes.  This  fatal 
event  contributed  quite  as  much  as  the  disadvantage  of  soil  and  climate 
to  retard  her  development  by  many  centuries. 

Writing  of  this  catastrophe  the  Russian  chronicler  says:  "In  those 
times  there  came  upon  us  for  our  sins  unknown  nations.  No  one  could 
tell  tlieir  origin,  whence  they  came,  what  religion  they  professed.  God 
alone  knows  who  they  were,  God,  and,  perhaps,  wise  men  learned  in 
books." 

The  Asiatic  invasion  was  a  terror  to  the  whole  of  Europe.  The 
Russians  bore  the  first  shock  of  those  mysterious  foemen  at  whom  the 
Pope  leveled  bulls,  and  who  were  reputed  to  be  the  Gog  and  Magog 
who  were  to  come  at  the  end  of  the  world,  when  Antichrist  was  to 
overwhelm  everything  with  the  blast  of  desti'uction.  The  Tatas,  or 
Tatars  or  Tartars,  as  they  have  been  variously  called,  seem  to  have 


I30  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

been  a  tribe  of  the  great  Mongol  race,  dwelling  in  the  highlands  of 
Central  Asia,  who  had  frequently  laid  waste  vast  regions  of  China  m 
the  course  of  repeated  invasions. 

They  were  a  nomadic  people,  by  occupation  shepherds,  who  wan- 
dered ceaselessly  from  one  pasture  to  another  and  from  river  to  river. 
They  had  no  walled  towns,  and  were  unacquainted  with  writing  and 
books.  Their  relations  with  other  nations  were  governed  by  unstable 
oral  treaties.  They  were  reared  from  infancy  on  horseback  and  from 
childhood  were  at  constant  practice  with  the  bow  and  the  javelin. 

In  fact,  from  what  we  know  of  them,  their  history  and  character 
would  apply  tolerably  well  to  the  Sioux  Indians  of  the  United  States. 
They  had  neither  religious  ceremonies  nor  judicial  institutions.  .They 
were  strictly  carnivorous.  The  flesh  and  skins  of  their  animals  supplied 
them  with  the  prime  necessities  of  life.  They  had  no  respect  for  any- 
thing but  force. 

Customs  and  Methods  of  Warfare. 

They  had  some  social  institutions  particularly  shocking  to  Europeans 
even  in  that  age  of  uncertain  morality.  It  was  said  that  when  the  father 
of  a  family  died  his  sons  married  his  youngest  wives.  A  Mussulman 
author  furnishes  us  the  information  that  they  worshiped  the  sun  and 
practiced  polygamy  and  community  of  wiv^s.  The  most  important  in- 
terest with  them  was  the  growing  of  grass,  and  they  named  their  months 
according  to  the  different  aspects  of  the  prairie.  In  war  they  used  no 
infantry  and  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  sieges.' 

A  Chinese  writer  says:  "When  they  wished  to  take  a  town  they 
fell  on  the-suburban  villages.  Each  leader  seizes  ten  men,  and  every 
prisoner  is  forced  to.  carry  a  certain  quantity  of  wood,  stones  and  other 
materials.  They  use  these  for  filling  up  moats  or  digging  trenches.  In 
the  capture  of  a  town  the  loss  of  ten  thousand  men  was  thought  noth- 
ing.    No  place  could  resist  them. 

After  a  siege  all  of  the  population  was  massacred  without  distinction 
of  old  or  young,  rich  or  poor,  beautiful  or  ugly,  those  who  resisted  or 
who  yielded;  no  distinguished  person  escaped  death  if  a  defense  was^ 
attempted." 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  131 

Genghis  Khan  the  Leader. 

It  was  these  hordes,  first  amalgamated  and  mobilized  by  the  genius 
of  Genghis-Khan,  who  terrified  the  continent  from  Pekin  to  the  Crimea 
in  the  13th  century.  Genghis-Khan,  the  evil  genius  of  this  race^of  ma- 
rauders, was  the  son  of  a  petty  Mongolian  prince  born  in  Tartary  in 
1 163.  After  much  intestine  warfare  with  various  tribes  this  renowned 
conqueror  was  proclaimed  Khan  of  the  United  Mongol  people.  He  reor- 
ganized his  army,  made  for  himself  a  set  of  laws  and  prepared  for  a 
course  of  conquest  to  which  he  professed  he  had  a  divine  call.  In  1210 
he  first  invaded  China,  the  capital  of  which  was  taken  by  storm  and 
plunder  several  years  later. 

He  sent  ambassadors  to  Turkestan  and  unfortunately  they  were- 
murdered,  which  gave  the  Tartar  despot  an  excuse  for  turning  his  con- 
quests toward  the  West.  He  invaded  this  country  in  1218  with  an  army 
said  to  comprise  700,000  men.  He  appeared  in  due  time  before  the  great 
cities  of  Bokhara  and  Samarcand,  which  were  stormed,  pillaged,  burned, 
and  more  than  200,000  lives  destroyed.  He  continued  his  operations  for 
several  years  and  in  1225,  although  more  than  sixty  years  old,  he  turned 
about  and  marched  in  person  at  the  head  of  his  army  against  Tangut,. 
whose  king  had  sheltered  two  of  his  enemies  and  refused  to  surrender 
them. 

A  great  battle  was  fought  on  plains  of  ice  formed  by  a  frozen  lake,, 
in  which  the  King  of  Tangut  was  totally  defeated  with  a  loss  of,  it  is 
said,  300,000  men.  His  forces  also  overran  Manchuria,  all  of  Northern 
China,  and  when  he  died  he  left  to  his  four  sons  the  largest  Empire  that 
ever  existed,  except  possibly  that  of  Edward  VII  of  Great  Britain. 

The  Empire  was  divided  into  four  parts,  having  been  established  by 
its  founder  at  a  cost,  it  has  been  said,  of  not  less  than  5,000,000  lives. 

His  death  occurred  in  1227,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  52nd  of  his  reign. 

The  Call  to  Arms. 

It  was  during  the  campaign  of  Genghis-Khan  against  Bokhara  that, 
his   lieutenants   Tchepe   and   Souboudai-Bagadour   turned   toward    the 
northwest,  overrunning  a  multitude  of  peoples,  and  passing  the  Caspian 


132 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 


Sea  by  its  southern  shore,  invaded  Georgia  and  the  Caucasus  and  in  the 
southern  steppes  of  Russia  cafhe  in  contact  with  th^  Slavic  army.  Their 
first  contest  v^as  with  the  Polovosti,  a  tribe  not  yet  Christianized,  being 
upon  the  confines  of  Russia  proper;  but  terrorized  by  the  onward  course 
of  the  Tartar  hordes,  they  called  upon  the  Christian  princes  for  help. 

Mstislas  the  Bold,  at  that  time  the  Prince  of  Galitch,  persuaded  all 
the  dynasties  of  Southern  Russia  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Tartars. 
His  nephew,  Daniel,  the  Prince  of  Volhynia,  Mstislaf  Romanovitch,  the 
Grand  Prince  of  Kief,  Oleg  of  Korsk,  the  Prince  of  Tchernigof,  Valdimir 
cf  Somelnsk,  and  Vsevolod  at  that  time  Prince  of  Novodlod,  responded 
to  his  appeal.  To  make  sure  of  his  alliance  with  the  Russians  and  as  an 
evidence  of  sincerity  in  the  common  cause  Basti  the  Prince  of  Polvostki 
joined  the  orthodox  Russian  Church.  The  Russian  army  had  already  ar- 
rived on  the  lower  Dnieper  when  the  Tartar  ambassadors  put  in  an  ap- 
pearance. 

They  are  reported  to  have  said  "we  come  by  God's  command  against 
our  slaves  and  servants,  the  accursed  Polovosti.  Be  at  peace  with  us. 
We  have  no  quarrel  with  you."  The  Russians  promptly  put  the  ambas- 
sadors to  death. 

Overwhelming  Disaster. 

They  then  advanced  into  the  steppe  and  encountered  the  Asiatics  on 
the  Kalka,  a  small  river  running  into  the  Sea  of  Azof.  Unfortunately  for 
the  Christians,  there  was  lack  of  a  supreme  commander  who  could  hold 
in  check  the  hot-headed  princes  from  the  various  cities,  each  of  whom 
desired  to  gain  all  the  honors  of  the  battle  for  himself ;  and  thus  disaster 
overwhelmed  the  whole. 

As  our  own  Cnster,  at  the  Litle  Big  Horn,  thought  lie  would  rout 
the  entire  nation  of  Sioux  warriors  under  Chief  Gall  and  Sitting  Bull 
without  sharing  the  glory  with  anyone  else,  so  Daniel  of  Galitch,  Mstis- 
las the  Bold,  and  Oleg,  each  on  his  own  account,  drove  headlong  into 
the  Tartar  hosts,  only  to  be  swallowed  up  and  annihilated  with  the 
flower  of  their  chiA'^alry.  The  combat  had  no  sooner  became  g'eneral 
than  the  Polovosti  were  seized  with  a  panic  and  fell  back  in  confusion 
upon  the  Russian  main  army,  throwing  it  into  disorder. 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  ijj 

A  general  rout  was  the  inevitable  result.  As  the  valor  of  the  intrepid 
Knights  of  France  at  Crecy  and  Poictiers  wrought  their  own  ruin,  so 
the  Russian  princes  had  made  an  exhibition  of  bravery  at  fe&rful  cost 
to  their  country.  About  nine-tenths  of  the  Christian  army  were  slaught- 
ered, the  Prince  of  Kief  alone  leaving  ten  thousand  dead  upon  the  field. 

A  Forlorn  Hope. 

The  Grand  Prince  of  Kief,  Mstislas  Romanovitch,  had  escaped  and 
still  occupied  a  fortified  camp^  on  the  banks  of  the  Kalka.  Abandoned 
by  the  rest  of  the  army  he  attempted  still  to  make  a  brave  defense.  The 
Tartar  leaders  offered  to  make  terms  by  the  payment  of  a  ransom  for 
himself  and  his  army.  He  capitulated,  therefore,  and  the  conditions 
were  at  once  violated.  His  guard  was  massacred  and  he  and  his  two 
sons-in-law  were  smothered  tO'  death,  while  the  Tartars  held  a  gjand 
celebration  over  their  dead  bodies.  This  was  in  1224.  The  Tartars  did 
not  at  this  time  follow  up  their  victory  but  returned  toward  the  east, 
nothing  more  being  heard  of  them. 

For  the  next  thirteen  years  while  the  Tartars  were  busy  finishing  up 
the  conquest  of  China,  the  Russian  princes  turned  to  the  cutting  of  each 
others  throats,  and  certain  princes  of  the  north  who  had  looked  on  while 
the  southern  brethren  were  slaughtered  by  the  Asiatics  were  marked 
for  punishment  for  their  impious  conduct.    The  Mongols  were  forgotten. 

All  sorts  of  disaster  overwhelmed  the  country.  There  was  famine  and 
pestilence,  incendiarism  in  the  towns,  and  the  people  were  further  terri- 
fied in  their  superstition  by  the  great  comet  of  1224  and  the  eclipse  of  the 
sun  which  oecurrd  in  1230. 

A  Brave  Defiance. 

In  1237  the  Tartars  came  on  again,  led  by  Bati,  the  nephew  of  Oktai, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Genghis-Khan.  A  Khirgiz  tribe,  falling  back  before 
the  advancing  hordes,  took  refuge  in  the  land  of  the  Bulgarians  of  the 
Volga,  giving  warning  of  the  new  irruption  from  Asia.  Tliis  time  it  was 
not  the  South  Russians  who  were  immediately  threatened  by  the  Souzdal 
princes.  . 


.yS4  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

The  Tartars  swept  on,  overrunning  the  Volgas  who,  up  to  this  time, 
liad  been  the  ancient  enemies  of  Russia,  but  who  now  made  common 
cause  with  her  in  her  ruin  by  the  Mongol  hordes.  Their  chief  city  was 
given  up  to  the  flames  and  her  inhabitants  were  put  to  the  sword.  The 
-invaders  moved  westward  into  the  forests  of  the  Volga  and  sent  envoys 
to  the  Princes  of  Riazan. 

The  three  Princes  of  Riazan  and  those  of  Pronsk,  Kolomna,  Mos- 
•cow  and  Moroum  advanced  to  meet  them. 

"If  you  want  peace,"  said  the  Tartars,  "give  us  the  tenth  of  your 
.goods." 

"When  we  are  dead,"  replied  the  Russian  princes,  "you  can  have  it 
all." 

Although  abandoned  by  the  Princes  of  Tchernigof  and  the  Grand 
Prince  George  II,  of  whom  they  had  implored  and  anticipated  help,  the 
Princes  of  Riazan  stoutly  gave  battle,  resolving  to  accept  the  unequal 
struggle.  They  were  completely  defeated,  nearly  all  of  the  princes  being 
killed  on  the  field  of  battle. 

This  unfortunate  affair  has  furnished  the  romantic  literature  of  Rus- 
sia with  many  stories.  It  is  told  how  Feodor  preferred  to  die  rather 
than  see  his  young  wife  Euphrasia  carried  off  a  prisoner  by  Bati,  and 
how  on  learning  his  fate,  she  threw  herself  and  her  son  from  a  window. 
Oleg  the  Handsome,  found  still  alive  on  the  field  of  battle,  refused  the 
.attentions  of  the  Tartar  chief  and  was  cut  to  pieces. 

The  Tartars  Everywhere  Victorious. 

Riazan  was  sacked  after  being  taken  by  assault  and  all  the  towns 
■of  the  principality  met  the  same  fate. 

The  Souzdalian  Prince  George  now  came  forward  and  sent  an  army 
commanded  by  his  son,  who  met  the  invaders  at  Kolomna  on  the  Oka. 
The  Tartars  burned  Moscow  and  then  besieged  the  Vladimir  on  the 
Kaliazma,  which  George  II  had  abandoned  to  seek  help  in  the  North. 
His  two  sons  were  charged  with  the  defense  of  the  capital.  The  princes 
and  knights  of  the  aristocratic  houses,  certain  that  there  was  no  alter- 
native but  death  or  slavery,  prepared  to  fight  to  the  end. 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  135 

The  women  and  the  nobles  prayed  the  Bishop  to  give  them  the  ton- 
sure and  when  the  Tartars  pushed  into  the  town  by  all  its  gates  the 
conquered  Russians,  fighting  to  the  last,  fell  back  into  the  cathedral, 
where  they  were  slaughtered,  men,  women  and  children,  in  the  midst 
of  a  general  conflagration.  Fourteen  towns  and  a  multitude  of  villages 
in  the  grand  principality  were  given  over  to  the  flame  by  the  end  of 
the  year  1238. 

The  Tartar  commander  then  went  to  seek  the  Grand  Prince  himself 
who  was  encamped  on  the  Sit,  almost  on  the  frontier  of  the  possessions  of 
Novgorod.  He  in  turn  was  defeated  with  the  same  dire  story  of  blood 
and  disaster  which  had  marked  the  course  of  the  Asiatics  from  the 
beginning. 

The  Tartars  novv  advanced  upon  Novgorod  itself,  but  here  at  last 
the  elements  combined  to  aid  the  hard-pressed  Russians  and,  baffled  by 
swollen  rivers  and  endless  marshes,  the  invaders  turned  back  to  the 
southeast  when  fifty  miles  away  from  the  ancient  capital. 

The  Tartars  then  spent  two  years,  1239  and  1240,  in  ravaging  South- 
•ern  Russia,  burning  Pereiaslaf  and  Tchernigof  in  spite  of  desperate  de- 
fense by  the  Russian  princes. 

The  Sack  of  Kief. 

Next  Mangou,  a  grandson  of  Genghis-Khan,  marched  against  Kief. 
From  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper  the  barbarian  beheld  the  great  city 
on  the  heights  on  the  opposite  side  towering  over  the  wide  river  with 
her  vs'hite  walls  and  towers  built  like  a  lesser  Constantinople.  The  city 
contained  innumerable  churches  with  domes,  shining  with  gold  and 
silver. 

It  is  said  that  even  the  savage  leaders  hesitated  at  the  devastation  of 
so  beautiful  a  place,  and  proposed  capitulation,  but  the  fate  of  the  capi- 
tals of  other  powerful  principalities  filled  the  people  with  apprehension 
and  they  hesitated  as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue.  Still  they  had  the 
temerity  to  put  to  death  Mangou's  ambassadors.  Michael,  their  grand 
prince,  fled,  and  his  rival,  Daniel  of  Galitch,  followed  suit. 

Upon  receiving  the  report  of  Mangou,  Bati,  the  chief  commander, 
came  in  person  to  the  assault  of  Kief  with  the  bulk  of  his  army. 


136  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

A  Russian  annalist,  speaking  of  this  event,  says:  "The  grinding  of 
the  wooden  chariots,  the  bellowing  of  the  buffaloes,  the  cries  of  the  cam- 
els,  the  neighing  of  the  horses,  the  bowlings  of  the  Tartars  rendered  it 
impossible  to  hear  your  own  voice  in  the  town." 

The  invaders  assailed  the  Polish  gate  and  knocked  down  the  walls 
with  battering  rams.  The  Kievans  supported  by  Dimitri,  a  famous  Gal- 
lician  knight,  defended  the  breach  to  nightfall,  and  then  retreated  to  one 
of  the  principal  churches  which  they  surrounded  by  palisades. 

Here  the  last  remnant,  gathered  round  the  tomb  ofjaroslaf,  perished 
the  next  day.  The  Tartar  commander  spared  the  life  of  the  gallant 
leader  of  the  city's  defenders,  but  the  next  day  the  "Mother  of  Russian 
cities"  was  sacked  for  the  third  time  in  its  history. 

Even  the  tombs  were  rifled.  St.  Sophia  and  the  Monastery  of  the 
Catacombs  were  delivered  over  to  be  plundered.  This  disaster  occurred 
in  the  year  1240. 

Sent  into  Captivity. 

All  of  Russia  practically,  had  now  been  devastated  except  Volhynia 
and  Gallicia  and  Novgorod  in  the  Northwest.  The  two  former  soon  fell 
under  the  Tartar  yoke,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Russians  were 
dragged  into  captivity.  The  Russian  Chronicle  of  the  day  says,  "men 
saw  wives  of  the  aristocrats  who  had  never  known  work,  who,  a  short 
time  before,  had  been  clothed  in  rich  garments,  adorned  with  jewels  and 
collars  of  gold,  surrounded  with  slaves,  now  reduced  to  be  themselves 
slaves  of  barbarians  and  their  wives,  turning  the  wheel  of  the  mill  and 
preparing  their  coarse  food." 

Karminsin,  the  Russian  historian,  in  reviewing  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  complete  defeat  of  the  Russian  nation,  says:  "Though  the  Tar- 
tars were  not  more  advanced  from  a  military  point  of  view  than  the 
Russians,  who  had  made  war  in  Greece  and  in  the  West  against  the 
most  warlike  and  civilized  people  of  Europe,  yet  they  had  to  face  an 
enormous  superiority  in  numbers.  Bati  had  with  him  probably  not  less 
than  500,000  warriors.  This  immense  army  moved  like  one  man.  It 
could  successfully  annihilate  the  successive  forces  of  the  princes  or  the 
militia  of  the  towns  which  only  presented  themselves  piecemeal  to  its 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  137 

blows.  The  Tartars  had  found  Russia  divided  against  herself  as  the 
result  of  the  fatal  policy  of  Vladimir  the  Great,  who  had  erected  the 
principalities.  Even  though  Russia  had  wished  to  form  a  solid  confed- 
eration, the  certain  irruption  of  an  army  entirely  composed  of  horsemen 
did  not  leave  her  time. 

Flushed  with  Victory. 

In  the  tribes  ruled  by  Bati  every  man  was  a  soldier,  while  in  Russia 
the  nobles  and  citizens  alone  bore  arms,  while  the  peasants  who  formed 
the  bulk  of  the  population  allowed  themselves  to  be  stabbed  or  bound 
without  resistance.  It  was  not  a  weak  nation  by  which  Russia  was  con- 
quered. 

The  Tartar-Mongols  under  Ghengis-Khan  had  filled  the  East  with 
the  glory  of  their  name,  and  subdued  nearly  all  Asia.  They  arrived, 
proud  of  their  exploits,  animated  by  the  recollection  of  a  hundred  vic- 
tories and  reinforced  by  numerous  peoples  whom  they  had  vanquished 
and  hurried  with  them  to  the  west. 

The  Princes  of  Galitch,  Volhymia  and  Kief  fled,  fugitives  to  Poland 
and  Hungary,  and  all  Europe  was  terror-stricken  with  the  news  they 
brought.  The  Pope  of  Rome,  whose  support  had  been  claimed  by  the 
Prince  of  Galitch,  summoned  all  Christendom  to  arms. 

Louis  IX  prepared  for  a  crusade.  Frederick  II,  as  Emperor,  wrote 
to  the  sovereigns  as  follows :  "This  is  the  moment  to  open  the  eyes  of 
body  and  soul,  now  that  the  brave  princes  on  whom  we  reckoned  are 
dead  or  in  slavery." 

The  Tartars  invaded  Hungary,  and  gave  battle  to  the  Poles  at 
Liegnitz  in  Silesia.  Their  onward  march  was  arrested  for  a  con- 
siderable time  by  the  defense  of  Olmutz  in  Moravia  and  finally  stopped, 
they  learning-  that  a  large  army  under  the  King  of  Bohemia  and  the 
Dukes  of  Austria  and  Corinthia  was  advancing  to  meet  them. 

Effect  upon  Russian  History. 

The  report  of  the  death  of  Oktai,  the  second  Emperor  of  the  United 
Tartars,  recalled  Bati  from  the  west,  and  in  retracing  his  steps  his  huge 
army  necessarily  wasted  away  to  a  great  extent.     They  had  found  the 

• 


138  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

broken  country  of  Central  Europe  more  difficult  than  the  plains  of  Rus- 
sia, and  a  foe  better  organized  and  better  equipped,  while  led  by  Chris- 
tian knights  of  the  most  distinguished  valor.  They  had  fought  disor- 
ganized Russians  at  the  Kalka,  at  Kolomna  and  at  the  Sit,  but  the  Poles, 
Silesians,  Bohemians  and  Moravians,  whom  they  met  at  Liegnitz  and 
Olmutz  had  not  been  such  easy  prey.  The  consequence  was  that  only 
in  Russian  history  did  the  invasion  produce  great  results.  The  chief 
result  was  to  give  a  taint  of  the  Tartar  character  to  Russia  henceforth. 

When  Bati  had  fallen  back  to  the  lower  Volga  he  built  a  city  called 
Sarai,  which  he  made  the  capital  of  a  Tartar  Empire  which  he  called 
the  Golden  Horde,  whose  territories  extended  from  the  Ural  and  the 
Caspian  to  the  mojith  of  the  Danube.  Within  its  confines  he  embraced 
not  only  the  Tartar  tribes  but  all  the  survivors  of  the  invasion  together 
with  various  Turkish  nations  who  began  to  lose  their  nomadic  cliaracter 
and  to  settle  in  a  fixed  abode.  The  first  three  successois  of  Genghis- 
Khan  were  recognized  as  the  head  of  this  new  Empire  until  1260,  when 
the  Golden  Horde  became  an  independent  state. 

About  this  time  the  Tartars,  who  had  been  pagans  when  they  en- 
tered Russia,  embraced  the  faith  of  Islam,  and  in  1273  were  counted 
among  its  most  formidable  adherents. 

A  Noble  Figure. 

*  In  the  meantime  through  all  the  gloom  and  turmoil  of  Russian  his- 
tory, one  figure  loomed  up  as  a  great  sovereign  in  the  person  of  Alex- 
ander Nevsky.  He  made  war  upon  the  Sv/edes  and  Germans  and  Lithu- 
anians who  had  fallen  upon  Western  Russia  tottering  under  the  blow 
-dealt  by  the  Tartars.  He  began  a  policy  of  conciliation  toward  the 
•Great  Khan,  miaking  three  journeys  into  Asia  with  this  object  in  view. 
He  came  to,  the  throne  to  find  his  country  devastated  with  the  Golden 
Horde  in  power  in  the  South,  while  his  Teutonic  enemies  pressed  him 
on  the  west. 

Alexander  made  his  capital  at  Novgorod  and  was  as  brave  as  he  was 
.intelligent.  He  was  the  hero  of  the  North,  who,  though  so  beset  on 
every  hand,  managed  to  vanquish  the  Scandinavians  and  the  Livonian 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  139 

TCnights,  but  he  was  compelled  to  make  an  obeisance  at  the  feet  of  the 
Asiatic  barbarians.  He  comprehended  that  in  the  presence  of  this  im- 
mense and  brutal  force  of  Mongols,  all  resistance  was  madness.  To 
brave  them  was  to  complete  the  overthrow  of  Russia.  His  conduct  may 
not  have  been  chivalrous  but  it  was  wise,  politic  and  humane.  The  result 
was  that  through  his  management  Novgorod  was  the  only  principality 
in  Russia  which  kept  its  independence,  and  he  gave  the  first  lesson  which 
has  been  followed  by  Russian  monarchs  down  to  the  present  day  for 
dealing  with  the  Asiatic  by  a  combination  of  force,  tempered  by  the  wiles 
=of  diplomacy. 

He  went  so  far  as  to  pay  tribute  to  the  great  Khan  as  the  price  of 
ireedom.  This  was  done  in  the  face  of  bitter  opposition  on  the  part  of 
his  people  who  resisted  the  Tartar  impost,  and  while  Alexander  himself, 
overcoming  his  scruples,  went  to  Sarai  to  prostrate  himself  before  the 
Ruler  of  the  Go'den  Horde,  Providence  smiled  upon  his  arms  by  a  signal 
victory  over  the  Swedes, 

A  National  Hero. 

The  health  of  Alexander  broke  down  and  he  died  upon  his  way  home ; 
his  death  being  announced  while  the  people  were  celebrating  their  vic- 
tory. He  at  once  became  the  national  hero  and  it  was  recognized  that  by 
his  victories  over  his  enemies  in  the  West  he  had  at  least  given  one 
glory  to  his  country  and  had  hindered  her  from  despairing  under  the 
most  cruel  tyranny,  material  and  moral,  which  the  European  people  had 
ever  suffered.  His  death  occurred  in  1262  in  the  midst  of  the  darkest 
hour  of  national  calamity,  relieved  only  by  his  diplomacy  on  the  one  hand 
and  his  victories  on  the  other. 

The  Mongol  yoke,  while  heavy,  had  not  suppressed  altogether  Rus- 
sian institutions  and,  in  fact,  the  Tartars  did  not  introduce  any  direct 
political  change.  They  left  to  each  principality  her  laws,  her  courts 
of  justice  and  her  native  chiefs,  Andrew  Bogolioubski  continued  to  rule 
in  Souzdal,  and  Daniel  Romanovitch  in  Galitch,  while  the  Olgovitches 
remained  at  the  head  of  their  people  in  Tchernigof.  Novgorod,  with  its 
republican   institutions,  was   allowed  to   continue   to  expel   and   recall 


I40   '  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

prmccsy  and  the  dynasties  of  the  South  were  left  to  fight  over  the  throne 
of  Kief. 

The  Russians  found  themselves  in  the  position  of  a  tributary  nation 
with  their  own  local  government  practically  undisturbed  The  people 
continued  in  possession  of  their  Lands  on  which  their  nomad  conquerors 
encamped  on  the  steppes,  regarding  such  property  with  disdain.  They 
cared  only  for  herds  of  camels  and  buffalos,  their  droves  of  horses  and 
flocks  of  goats.     They  wanted  the  grass  but  not  the  ground. 

Origin  of  Muscovite  Power. 

The  obligations  af  the  vanquished  races  and  their  relations  with  their 
conquerors  were  limited*  by  periodical  acknowledgment  of  their  sub- 
mission and,  when  it  suited  the  conqueror's  pleasure,  the  opportunity 
of  judging  the  merits  of  their  disputes  by  their  princes  going  not  only  to 
the  Khan  of  the  Golden  Horde,  but  also  frequently  to  the  Grand  Khan 
at  the  extremity  of  Asia  on  the  Amoor.  They  met  there  the  chiefs  af 
the  Mongol  Tartar,  Thibetan  and  Bokharian  hordes  and  sometimes 
the  Kaliph  of  Bagdad,  or  even  legates  of  the  Pope  or  the  King  of  France. 
The  Grand  Khan  held  a  high  court  where  he  tried  to  play  off  against 
each  other  these  ambassadors  from  Europe  who  met  to  do  him  rever- 
ence. The  insolent  ambition  of  the  Grand  Khan  knew  no  bounds.  He 
desired  at  one  time  that  the  King  of  France  should  recognize  him  as 
Master  of  the  World.  This  long  road  to  the  seat  of  the  Mongol  Empire 
was  strewn  with  bones  of  ambassadors,  and  few  who  went  ever  returned. 

The  conquered  people  were  obliged  to  pay  a  capitation  tax  which 
weighed  as  heavily  upon  the  poor  as  on  the  rich.  This  tribute  was  paid 
either  in  money  or  in  furs,  or,  if  they  refused,  those  who  failed  became 
slaves.  To  make  matters  worse  the  Khan  for  some  time  farmed  out 
this  revenue  to  merchants  of  Khiva  who  collected  it  with  the  utmost 
severity  and  who  were  protected  by  strong  guards  to  put  down  revolts 
should  the  people  prove  obstinate. 

Thus  in  1264,  in  1284,  in  1318,  in  1327,  the  inhabitants  of  various  cit- 
ies felt  to  their  cost  the  heav}'-  arm  ready  to  strike  them  in  case  of  any 
attempt  at  insurrection  against  the  usurper.     Later  the  princes  of  Mos- 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  141 

cow  themselves  farmed  not  only  the  tax  from  their  own  subjects  but 
also  from  the  neighboring  countries,  becoming  the  farmers-general  of 
the  invaders;  in  fact,  this  was  th-e  origin  of  the  power  and  riches  of 
the  Muscovite  princes. 

Mingling  of  the  Races. 

In  addition  to  the  tribute  above  mentioned,  the  Russians  had  to  fur- 
nish to  their  master  a  blood  tax  in  the  shape  of  a  military  force  and  in 
the  thirteenth  century  we  find  that  the  Russian  princes  furnished  to  the 
Tartars  a  solid  infantry — an  arm  of  service  which  the  Tartars  themselves 
did  not  possess,  having  been  brought  tip  solely  as  cavalrymen. 

These  contingents  were  even  placed  under  the  command  of  the 
princes  themselves  who  were  obliged  to  march  at  their  head  and  take 
part  in  the  expeditions  of  the  Grand  Khan  against  various  tribes  wiiich 
rebelled  against  his  sway  in  difTerent  parts  of  Asia  upon  the  confines  of 
his  empire.  Worse  yet,  these  forces  were  often  called  upon  to  assist 
the  Tartars  to  put  down  rebellious  princes  in  Russia  itself.  Thus  it  will 
be  seen  the  depths  to  which  the  Russian  national  pride  was  being 
humbled  throughout  half  a  dozen  generations. 

On  the  other  hand  the  blood  of  the  two  races  was  in  the  meantime 
being  mingled  by  matrimonial  alliances,  which  became  very  common. 
In  this  respect  the  princes  on  both  sides  set  the  example  to  tlieir  sub- 
jects. The  Asiatic  shepherds,  therefore,  could  not  help  being  more  or 
less  inifluenced  by  Slavic  manners,  traditions  and  religion. 

Thus  the  fierce  penalties  by  flogging,  mutilation  or  death  at  the  stake, 
which  the  Asiatics  brought  to  Europe,  and,  also,  such  arts  and  customs 
as  they  found  in  Russia  became  common  to  a  great  extent  to  the  mingled 
.progeny  of  the  conquerors  and  their  subjects. 

Still  the  two  races  did  not  become  thoroughly  unified,  and,  in  many 
particulars,  continued  to  the  end  of  the  Mongolian  conquest  to  be  en- 
tirely separate  from  each  other  in  the  matter  of  social  habits  and  re- 
ligious opinions.  This  arises  chiefly,  no  doubt,  from  the  fact  that  while 
the  Russians  continued  to  be  Christians,  the  pagans  instead  of  accepting 
their  faith  were  gradually  becoming  MoJiammedans. 


142  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

The  Lithuanian  Conquest. 

The  picture  of  Russia  at  this  period  would  not  be  complete  without 
a  glance  at  the  Lithuanian  conquest,  reaching  into  the  15th  century. 
These  people  of  very  early  Persian  origin  had  been  badly  broken  up  by 
successive  conflicts  with  the  Germans,  but  they  had  maintained  them- 
selves throughout  the  turmoil  of  the  dark  ages,  until,  finally,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  they  had  been  united  through  the 
influence  of  a  prince  named  Minvog,  who  had  come  to  povv'er  through 
the  usual  process  of  the  extermination  of  his  rivals. 

Encouraged  by  the  Mongol  invasions  he  made  war  upon  Western 
Russia  until  stopped  as  we  have  seen  before,  by  Alexander  Nevsky,  who 
saved  Novgorod  from  the  Asiatics  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Lithuanians 
on  the  other.  Defeated  by  this  great  prince,  he  had  appealed  to  the  Pope 
and  secured  the  assistance  of  the  Teutonic  knights.  He  embraced  Chris- 
tianity and  was  consecrated  King  of  Lithuania.  The  danger  passed, 
Rome  was  forgotten  and  the  country  fell  back  into  anarchy  under  his 
descendants.  The  real  founder  of  her  power  rose  in  the  early  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century  under  Gedimin  and  he  turned  the  exhaustion  and 
division  to  his  profit.  He  attacked  Tchernigof  and  Volhynia,  defeating 
the  Russians  aided  by  an  auxiliary  of  Tartars,  in  1321.  Kief  soon  after 
soon  fell  under  his  power  although  it  is  not  certain  in  what  year  this  oc- 
curred, the  annals  of  this  age  of  universal  disorder  not  being  clear. 

Whatever  the  exact  date  may  have  been  this  ancient  city  was  des- 
tined to  remain  for  four  hundred  years,  or  down  to  the  time  of  Alexis 
Romanoff,  in  the  hands  of  strangers. 

A  New  Master. 

The  Russian  population  willingly  received  this  new  master  who  would 
free  them  from  the  heavy  yoke  of  the  Mongols,  and  never-ending  civil 
wars.  As  he  respected  their  internal  constitution  and  the  rights  of  the 
orthodox  clergy  it  appears  that  many  towns  readily  opened  their  gates 
to  him.  Gedimin  sought  to  realize  his  conquests  by  contracting  alliances 
with  the  house  of  St.  Vladimir,  allowed  his  sons  to  embrace  the  ortho- 


MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA.  143 

dox  faith,  and  authorized  the  construction  of  Greek  churches  in  his  resi- 
dences at  Wilna  and  other  seats. 

He  had  a  perpetual  struggle  to  sustain  himself  in  the  North  against 
his  deadly  enemies,  the  military  monks  of  Prussia  and  Livonia,  but,  like 
his  predecessors,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  Pope,  John  XXII,  and 
informed  him  that  he  wished  to  preserve  his  independence  and  that  he 
only  asked  protection  for  his  religion,  being  surrounded  by  Franciscans 
and  Dominicans  to  whom  he  gave  full  liberty  to  teach  their  doctrines. 
He  promised  also  to  recognize  the  Pope  as  the  supreme  head  of  the 
church  if  he  would  save  him  from  the  Germans.  This  Pope  being  a 
Frenchman  lent  ready  assistance. 

Dies  a  Pagan. 

He  had  already  been  compelled,  by  the  hostilities  successfully  waged 
by  the  Germans,  to  fall  back  to  Wilna,  where  he  established  himself 
in  a  citadel  and  began  by  diplomacy  to  build  around  him  a  city  as  the 
seat  of  his  strength. 

By  offering  immunities  to  German  artisans  and  by  granting  them  the 
rights  given  to  towns  under  the  Hanseatic  League  he  stimulated  com- 
merce; he  also  established  a  Russian  quarter  in  his  capital.  However, 
in  spite  of  his  intimacy  with  the  Pope  he  died  and  was  buried  according 
to  pagan  rites,  his  body  being  burned  in  a  caldron  with  his  horse  and. 
his  favorite  groom.  After  his  death  his.  sons  Olgerd  and  Kestout  de- 
prived their  two  other  brothers  of  their  properties  and  dignities,  and 
together  governed  Lithuania  down  to  1337.  Olgerd  was  greatly  incensed 
against  Novgorod  because  one  of  his  fugitive  brothers  had  found  asylum 
there  and  he  ravaged  her  territory  and  forced  her  to  put  to  death  the 
burgomaster  whom  he  charged  with  being  the  cause  of  the  war.  He 
extended  his  possessions  to  the  East  and  South,  becoming  master  of 
nearly  all  the  valley  of  Dnieper,  obtaining  a  footing  on  the  coast  of  the 
Black  Sea  between  the  mouths  of  the  Dnieper  and  Dniester. 

The  Passing  of  a  Nation. 

The  Poles  disputed  with  him  for  the  possession  of  Volhynia,  oppres- 
sing the   orthodox  faith   and   finally   changing  the   Greek   into   Latiri 


144  MEDIAEVAL    RUSSIA. 

churches.  He  even  attempted  the  conquest  of  Moscow  and  had  it  not 
been  that  he  was  unable  to  shake  off  the  Poles  and  the  two  German 
orders  who  constantly  harassed  him  he  might  have  made  the  conquest 
of  Eastern  Russia,  having  in  1368  annihilated  the  Mongol  hordes  of  the 
lower  Dnieper  and  completed  the  ruin  of  the  Crimea.  A  succession  of 
wars  in  which  Russia  was  practically  powerless  was  waged  up  to  1430, 
during  which  period  the  Lithuanian  princes  were  the  chief  actors  and 
the  heads  of  the  rival  churches  of  Rome  and  Constantinople  were  partici- 
pants in  the  struggle  for  ecclesiastical  supremacy. 

With  this  date  Lithuania  ceased  to  be  a  first-class  power  and  it  was 
by  turn  governed  by  a  Grand  Duke  of  its  own,  united  with  Poland,  sep- 
arated again,  and  finally  placed  under  Polish  rule  in  1501.  Henceforward 
it  shared  the  fate  of  Poland,  until,  in  modern  times,  its  last  trace  as  a 
political  entity  has  disappeared  by  being  inverted  in  the  partition  be- 
tween Russia,  Germany  and  Austria. 


CHAPTER  XL 
THE  MUSCOVITE  DYNASTY 

The  Comer-Stone  of  the  Eussian  Empire — Early  History — The  Princes  of  Moscow — ^A  New 
Dynasty — Wars  between  the  Muscovite  and  the  Tartar — ^Historic  Battle  on  the  Dons- 
koi  River — Dimitri  Donskoi — Tamerlane — The  Vassilli — The  Birth  of  Russia — Ivan 
the  Great — A  Notable  Reign. 

IN  THE  previous  chapter  we  have  gone  to  some  length  in  explaining 
the  bloody  events  which  attended  the  conquest  of  almost  all  Russia 
by  the  Mongol  Asiatics. 

What  the  Term  Asiatic  Means. 

In  speaking  of  Asiatics  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  have  al- 
luded by  this  term  to  the  Tartar  or  Mongolian  inhabitant  of  the  vast 
regions  north  of  the  Himalayan  Mountains  and  to  the  north  and  east, 
generally  speaking,  of  the  Turkoman  and  Persion  regions,  which  pro- 
duced entirely  different  races  of  peoples,  principally  the  Indo-European 
or  Perso-Indian  races  from  which  the  white  people  of  Europe  are  de- 
rived, and  the  Semite  tribes  to  which  belong  the  Jews  and  Arabs. 

Perhaps  this  explanation  may  be  useful  in  avoiding  confusion  when 
speaking  of  the  detested  Mongol  Tartars  as  Asiatics.  At  the  present 
time  the  descendant  and  consanguineous  races  of  Chinese  and  Japanese 
are  also  called  Asiatics,  making  the  same  distinction  between  them  and 
the  other  peoples  of  Southwestern  Asia,  above  alluded  to,  namely  the 
East  Indians  and  the  Semites. 

Victor  Hugo  has  said  some  place  that  the  events  of  history  repeat 
themselves  with  geometric  certainty.  Without  going  into  a  discussion 
of  this  proposition  thus  tersely  stated  by  the  great  French  philosopher 
and  novelist,  we  may  at  least  be  sure  that  in  a  general  way  things  that 

145 


146  THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 

have  happened  are  not  unlikely  in  the  lapse  of  a  long  period  of  time, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  to  happen  agfain.  Perhaps  this  may  look 
like  begging  the  question. 

Without  w^ishing  to  be  an  alarmist  let  us  make  a  hypothesis  and  leave 
the  conclusion  to  posterity. 

A  Modem  Problem. 

Suppose  an  Asiatic  leader  of  the  pre-eminent  qualities  of  Genghis- 
Khan  at  the  head  of  a  brave,  patriotic,  energetic  nucleus-nation  of  Mon- 
golian blood.  Suppose  that  instead  of  becoming  masters  of  the  plains 
by  means  of  an  immense  and  efificient  horde  of  cavalrymen,  we  have  great 
adaptability  for  the  sea,  and  a  final  rise  to  naval  supremacy  over  other 
nations  on  the  same  continent.  Suppose  that  this  pre-eminence  and 
native  force  should  be  accompanied  by  skill  in  organization  and  in  the 
amalgamation  of  other  peoples  of  kindred  blood,  all  being  endowed  with 
a  genius  for  self-preservation,  with  habits  of  industry  and  possessing  a 
large  food-producing  territory  with  unlimited  numbers  of  men  among  a 
vassal  nation  from  which  to  draw  and  equip  armies.  Suppose  that  this 
great  power,  thus  created,  should  have  a  practically  similar  religion,  and 
be  of  an  entirely  distinct  and  non-mingling  race,  so  far  as  the  rest  of 
the  world  is  concerned. 

We  leave  the  answer  to  this  puzzle  to  be  considered,  in  view  of  the 
Mongol  invasion  of  six  hundred  years  ago  and  the  possibilities  of  modern 
events.    So  much  in  retrospect. 

The  Rise  of  the  Russian  Empire. 

We, shall  now  consider  briefly  the  rise  of  United  Russia  as  it  has 
come  down  to  us  today,  based  as  it  was  upon  the  Muscovite  dynasty  as 
a  corner  stone. 

Throughout  the  long,  turbulent  generations  which  marked  the  devel- 
opment of  Russia  as  a  whole  we  find  a  constant  mingling  of  strife  by 
rival  military  leaders  and  activities  which  had  their  origin  in  the  heads 
of  the  different  divisions  of  Christianity,  namely  the  Roman  Catholics,. 
Greek  Catholics  and  Protestants. 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY.  147 

The  ecclesiastic  and  military  chieftain  were  equally  vigilant  and 
strenuous  in  their  efforts  to  shape  the  political  events  of  the  middle 
ages.  The  student  of  the  history  of  these  times  must  above  all  keep  his 
eye  upon  the  Pope  of  Rome.  In  common  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  Rus- 
sia did  not  escape  from  the  struggles  for  supremacy  between  the  great 
prelates  of  those  centuries. 

Eastern  and  Western  Russia. 

We  have  noticed  the  Lithuanian  conquest  which  created  Western 
Russia  with  a  capital  at  Wilna,  while  the  rest  of  the  country  which  es- 
caped from  this  influence  centered  around  Moscow,  which  at  an  early 
day  became  the  eastern  capital.  Eastern  Russia  was  subject,  in  a  re- 
ligious sense,  to  the  Orthodox-Greek  Church,  while  Western  Russia  had 
three  religions,  Greek,  Roman  and  Protestant. 

The  result  was  a  natural  antagonism  between  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern division  of  the  country,  the  former  being  practically  a  political  vas- 
sal of  the  Great  Khan.  A  race  was  formed  around  Moscow  under  the 
Mongol  yoke,  patient  and  resigned,  yet  energetic  and  enterprising,  bound 
in  the  long  run  to  get  the  upper  hand  of  the  western  princes,  notwith- 
standing their  genius  for  politics,  their  valor  and  pitiless  cruelty. 

The  princes  of  Moscow  gained  their  ends  by  intrigue,  corruption, 
the  purchases  of  conscience,  servility  to  the  Khans,  perfidy  to  their 
equals,  murder  and  treachery. 

The  above  stigma  has  been  put  upon  them  by  another  writer,  but  it 
is  well  deserved.  They,  however,  did  create  the  germ  of  the  Russian 
power  and  caused  it  to  grow,  so  that  henceforward  we  have  a  fixed  cen- 
ter around  which  gathers  that  scattered  history  of  Russia  which  we  have 
been  trying  to  follow  through  the  previous  pages. 

Heretofore  we  have  dealt  with  Novgorod,  Smolensk,  Tchernigof, 
Kief,  the  City  of  Vladimir  and  other  lesser  capitals,  each  the  center  of  a 
warring  principality.  Still  the  masceration,  so  to  speak,  of  these  lesser 
Russian  states  by  submission  to  the  Mongols  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Lithuanians,  tended  in  the  end  to  the  leveling  of  all  things,  and  to  the 
preparation  for  the  wor4c  of  organization  into  a  national  solidarity. 


148  THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 

In  a  country  thus  humiliated  and  prostrated  a  potent  dynasty  such 
as  rose  in  Moscow  found  more  easy  work  to  build  a  realm  about  a  new 
national  capital. 

The  Beginning  of  a  Nation. 

The  name  of  Moscow  first  appears  in  the  chronicles  about  the  year 
1 147.  It  is  there  stated  that  the  Grand  Prince  George  Dolgorouki,  hav- 
ing arrived  on  the  domains  of  a  petty  prince  named  Stephen  Koutchko, 
caused  him  to  be  put  to  .death  on  some  pretext,  and  that  impressed  by 
the  location  of  one  of  the  villages  on  the  bank  of  the  Moskowa,  where  the 
Kremlin  now  stands,  he  founded  the  city  of  Moscow. 

We  could  scarcely  hope  to  interest  the  reader  in  the  long  story  of 
petty  wars,  murders,  burnings  and  unscrupulous  outrages  which  fol- 
lowed and  marked  the  early  history  of  the  new  city  which  was  destined 
to  become  the  key  of  the  empire. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  this  maze  of  iniquity  may  find  it  fully 
set  forth  by  the  Russian  historian  Karamsin.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  for  a 
century  at  least  Moscow  continued  to  be  an  obscure  and  insignificant 
place  within  the  domains  of  the  Souzdal  princes.  We  hear  that  it  was 
burned  by  the  Tartars  in  1237,  and  that  a  brother  of  Alexander  Nevsky, 
called  Michael  of  Moscow,  was  killed  there  in  a  battle  with  the  Lithuan- 
ians. 

The  Founding  of  Moscow. 

The  real  founder,  however,  of  the  principality  was  Daniel,  a  son  of 
Alexander  Nevsky,  who  had  received  this  small  town  and  a  few  villages 
as  his  particular  source  of  revenue  to  be  collected  by  means  of  the  usual 
methods  among  lords,  enforced  taxation.  He  began  a  series  of  con- 
quests for  the  extension  of  his  domains  and  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
principality  of  his  successors. 

He  created  himself  an  absolute  autocrat  and  brought  all  the  sur- 
rounding princes  to  his  feet,  an  example  which  was  religiously  followed 
by  his  son  George,  who  continued  his  acquisitions  until  he  forced  him- 
self to  be  recognized  as  the  Prince  of  Novgorod,  and  by  truckling  to  the 
-Mongol  Khan  secured  the  assassination  of  his  chief  rival  and  thoroughly 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY.  149 

established  himself  as  the  supreme  power  in  Eastern  Russia.  His  reign 
closed  in  1325  and  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Ivan,  who  continued  to  live 
his  evil  life  as  oppressor,  burdener,  tax  gatherer,  revenue  farmer,  alms 
giver  and  monk  protector  up  to  1341. 

The  Rival  Cities  of  Kief  and  Moscow. 

With  all  the  political  iniquities  by  means  of  which  Moscow  was  stead- 
ily gaining  in  importance  it  became  necessary  to  secure  further  dignity 
by  establishing  in  its  midst  the  head  of  the  church.  Kief  had  been  the 
original  Holy  City  of  the  Russians,  and  she  had  been  succeeded  by  the 
town  of  Vladimir,  after  Moscow  was  in  reality  the  capital. 

The  metropolitan  of  Vladimir,  Peter,  who  had  an  affection  for  Mos- 
cow, often  resided  there  and  his  successor  .established  himself  there  com- 
pletely. Then  the  religious  supremacy  which  had  originally  belonged 
to  Kief  passed  to  the  new  capital.  Ivan  did  his  best  to  give  it  the  pres- 
tige of  a  metropolis.  He  built  magnificent  churches  in  the  Kremlin, 
among  others  that  of  the  Assumption  which  was  succeeded  by  numer- 
ous others  of  equal  dignity. 

Kief,  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  church,  had  been  famous  for  its 
monastery  of  the  Holy  Catacombs,  and  Moscow,  not  to  be  outdone, 
founded,  through  the  instrumentality  of  St.  Sergius,  the  famous  Troitsa 
or  monastery  of  the  Trinity,  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  This  institution 
.subsequently  became  one  of  the  richest  and  most  venerated  in  eastern 
Russia.  It  was  surrounded  with  ramparts  and  thick  brick  walls  with 
a  triple  row  of  embrasures  and  nine  war  towers  which  were  afterward 
destined  to  meet  the  assaults  of  Catholics  and  pagans  and  whose  forti- 
fications remain  as  a  monument  of  mediaeval  engineering  architecture  to 
the  present  time. 

A  New  Order  of  Things. 

The  Princes  of  Moscow  introduced  in  Russia  the  system  of  primo- 
geniture, the  obvious  result  of  which  was  a  tendency  to  solidify  the 
government,  exactly  as  the  plan  of  St.  Vladimir  had  tended  to  its  separa- 
tion into  rival  principalities  by  equal  division  among  his  sons  at  his 
death. 


ISO 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 


It  is  obvious  that  with  a  virile  race,  the  constant  division  of  territory 
must  lead  to  weakness  and  militate  against  the  building  up  of  great  ter- 
ritories, or  the  continuation  of  strong  governments  founded  by  ancestors 
with  large  families.  The  Muscovites  changed  this  order  of  things  com- 
pletely, and  by  giving  practically  all  the  territory  of  a  principality  to 
the  eldest  son,  the  government  was  strengthened  and  its  boundaries 
extended. 

Interesting  Personages. 

We  may  pass  over  the  turbulent  times  among  the  Souzdal  princes 
during  the  reigns  of  Simeon  the  Proud,  which  closed  in  1553,  and  Ivan  II, 
who  came  to  his  end  in  1359,  both  sons  of  "Ivan  the  Alms  Giver,"  who 
were  stoutly  disputed  by  rival  princes  who  did  not  desire  the  title  of 
"Grand  Prince"  to  be  perpetuated  in  the  house  of  Moscow. 

All  the  contending  parties  seem  to  have  appealed  with  equal  readi- 
ness to  the  Mongol,  but  Simeon,  wiser  than  his  fellows,  succeeded  by 
backing  up  his  claims  with  liberal  bribes.  By  diplomacy,  force  and  brib- 
ery he  compelled  even  Novgorod  to  pay  him  a  contribution  and  recognize 
him  as  supreme,  as  a  result  of  which  he  first^assumed  the  title  of  "Grand 
Prince  of  all  the  Russias." 

When  this  dignity  was  challenged  by  Lithuania,  who  ventured  to 
besiege  Moscow,  he  gained  moral  support  by  the  friendship  of  St.  Alexis, 
the  third  Metropolitan,  and  he  made  return  by  further  advancing  the 
privileges  and  increasing  the  revenues  of  the  church. 

His  brother,  Ivan,  who  succeeded  him  and  is  surnamed  in  history 
"The  Debonnaire,"  seems  to  have  been  a  pacific  and  gentle  prince  who 
naturally  had  a  brief  reign.  As  a  result  of  his  weakness,  Dimitri  of  Souz- 
dal succeeded,  but  the  power  again  returned  to  Moscow  saved  by  St. 
Alexis,  when  the  Muscovite  capital  had  temporarily  ceased  to  occupy  the 
chief  place  in  Eastern  Russia. 

Christian  Versus  Barbarian. 

Upon  the  recovery  of  the  political  importance  of  Moscow  a  long  series 
of  indecisive  wars  ensued  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  princes 
until  finally,  under  the  Muscovite  leadership,  the  time  arrived  when  the 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY.  151 

Russians  ventured  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Mongol  force  which  had 
so  long  entrenched  itself  along  the  Volga  and  in  1376  an  expedition 
against  Kazan  forced  two  Tartar  princes  to  pay  tribute  and  a  war  was 
inaugurated  where  the  lines  were  drawn.  A  series  of  conflicts  between 
the  Christians  on  the  one  hand  and  the  infidels  on  the  other,  culminated 
in  the  famous  battle  of  Koulikovo,  which  has  made  Dimitri  Donskoi 
famous. 

He  succeeded  in  forming  a  strong  confederation  composed  of  most 
of  the  Russian  princes  of  the  East  and  North,  who  proceeded  with  a 
great  army  to  give  battle  to  the  Asiatic  power.  The  Tartar  was  assisted 
by  the  treachery  of  two  or  three  western  princes  and  assembled  a  great 
force,  composed  of  all  the  tribes  of  Asiatics  from  southeastern  Russia 
and  beyond  the  Caucasus  and  even  assisted  by  the  Genoese  colonists 
of  the  Crimea. 

In  spite  of  the  private  jealousies  of  the  Christian  princes  they  as- 
sembled such  an  army  as  never  had  been  seen  in  Russia.  The  force  is 
said  to  have  consisted  of  150,000  men,  which  marched  ft)rward  to  meet 
that  of  the  Tartars  at  the  banks  of  the  Don.  They  decided  to  cross  the 
river  and  on  the  plain  of  Koulikovo,  or  "Field  of  Woodcocks,"  a  great 
battle  ensued  in  which  the  Christians  gained  a  signal  victory.  The  bar- 
barians are  said  to  have  lost  100,000  men  in  this  combat  but  the  Russian 
loss  was  also  very  severe. 

The  Bannockbum  of  Russian  History. 

It  was  supposed  that  even  Dimitri  himself  had  perished  for  he  was 
missing  when  the  battle  came  to  an  end.  He  was  found,  however,  with 
his  armor  broken,  bleeding  from  many  wounds,  and  unconscious.  For- 
tunately for  Moscow,  however,  he  was  not  dead.  This  battle  from  which 
Dimitri  derived  his  surname  Donskoi,  from  the  name  of  the  river  on 
whose  banks  it  occurred,  took  place  in  the  year  1380. 

No  event  in  Russian  history  has  been  more  celebrated  in  poetry  and 
romance  than  this.  As  the  Scotch  story-tellers  loved  to  dwell  upon  the 
glories  of  Bannockburn,  where  Robert  Bruce  defeated  Edward  II,  and 
British  bards  have  immortalized  Bosworth  Field  and  the  tragic  end  of 


152  THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 

Richard  III,  so  Koulikovo  was  told  and  retold  with  many  variations. 
These  stories  differ  considerably,  the  Russian  chronicler  being  careful  to 
give  Dimitri  sole  credit,  while  the  poets,  inspired  by  the  Pope  of  Rome, 
have  made  Saint  Sergius,  the  counselor  of  the  Grand  Prince,  the  chief 
instrument  of  Russian  success. 

While  this  victory  did  not  result  in  casting  off  the  Mongol  yoke,  it 
had  given  courage  to  the  Russians.  It  broke  the  charm  and  demon- 
strated that  enslaved,  tax-ridden  and  driven,  as  they  had  been  before 
on  every  field,  still  it  was  possible  to  put  the  redoubtable  Tartar  to  flight. 

The  Entry  of  Tamerlane. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Russians,  another  great  man  was  looming  up  in 
Asia  in  the  person  of  Tamerlane,  or  more  properly,  Timur-Beg.  This 
great  commander,  who  claimed  to  be  a  distant  relative  of  Genghis-Khan, 
was  born  at  a  village  some  forty  miles  to  the  south  of  Samarcand  in  the 
year  1336.  Almost  from  childhood  he  was  a  soldier,  and,  beginning  in 
youth  a  course  of  conquest,  he  established  his  capital  at  Samarcand,  and 
gradually  spread  his  power  until  he  had  carried  it  by  force  of  arms  to 
Delhi  in  India,  beyond  the  Ganges,  had  taken  Bagdad,  Smyrna  and  Asia 
Minor,  and,  finalfy,  when  over  seventy  years  old,  died  from  exposure  in 
a  winter  campaign  against  China.  He  was  a  despot,  who  ruled  without 
councillors  or  law-makers,  and  yet  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  letters, 
as  well  as  a  warrior. 

It  was  one  of  Tamerlane's  generals,  who,  after  a  victory  which 
humbled  the  Ottoman  power  in  Asia  Minor,  was  sent  into  Southern 
Russia,  and,  conquering  the  Golden  Horde,  announced  to  Dimitri  that, 
having  struck  a  fatal  blow  at  their  common  enemy,  they  had  better  be 
friends. 

The  Traitors  Punished. 

These  overtures  were  met  with  scorn  and  distrust,  and  the  Asiatics 
advanced  on  Moscow,  ravaging  and  burning  as  they  progressed.  Dimitri 
fled  to  Kostroma  to  assemble  a  new  army,  but  the  Mongol  commander 
marched  straight  on  the  capital  which  he  took  by  surprise,  entered  and 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY.  153 

sacked.    The  other  towns  of  Souzdal  suffered  the  same  fate.    Gloom  uni- 
versal again  fell  upon  Russia,  the  people  being  once  more  enslaved. 

When  the  Tartar  host  returned  toward  the  east,  Dimitri  gathered  up 
the  fragments  of  his  former  power,  turned  his  attention  toward  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  western  princes  who  had  deserted  him  in  his  struggle 
against  the  usurper.  In  spite  of  its  afflictions.  Eastern  Russia,  so  far 
recovered  that,  when  Dimitri  died,  the  principality  was  by  far  the  most 
considerable  of  the  states  of  the  Northeast.  He  established  the  prin- 
ciple of  inheritance  in  the  direct  line  and  caused  his  collateral  heirs  to 
recognize  the  rights  of  his  eldest  son  Vassilli,  or  Basil,  to  the  throne. 

The  Reign  of  the  Vassilli. 

Basil,  who  ruled  from  1389  to  1425,  was  prince  both  of  Moscow  and 
Vladimir,  and  during  his  time  the  relative  importance  of  the  former  city 
was  still  further  enhanced,  while  Vladimir  was  compelled  to  take  second 
place  and  even  ancient  Novgorod,  whatever  else  it  did,  was  forced  to 
make  the  Muscovite  its  prince. 

This  prince  was  succeeded  by  another  Vassilli  surnamed  Blind,  who 
ruled  from  1425  to  1462.  His  reign  was  marked  by  a  civil  war  which 
lasted  twenty  years,  between  the  different  members  of  the  Donskoi 
family,  which  resulted  in  fixing  more  firmly  the  power  of  the  Autocracy. 

It  would  be  tiresome  to  go  into  details  over  the  long  series  of  wars 
and  intrigues  which  occupied  his  reign,  at  the  end  of  which,  although  we 
find  Moscow  strengthened,  the  heel  of  the  Tartar  still  rested  upon  the 
Russian  neck. 

It  was  Ivan  III,  called  *'The  Great,"  who  finally  accomplished  the 
liberation  of  Russia  from  her  degrading  Tartar  servitude.  He  accom- 
plished this  chiefly  at  the  behest  of  his  second  wife.  She  was  Sophia, 
the  daughter  of  Constantine,  the  last  Greek  emperor  at  Byzantium,  as 
the  modern  Constantinople  was  then  called. 

This  empire,  which  had  been  crumbling  for  generations,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  its  capital  was  located  where  it  had  a  geographic  advantage 
over  all  the  commercial  world  of  its  time,  had  at  last  come  under  the 
sway  of  the  horrible  Turk,  and  there,  by  the  way,  upon  the  Golden  Horn, 


154  THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 

commanding  the  Dardanelles,  sits  the  Turk  yet,  in  spite  of  the  anathemas 
of  Popes,  the  intrigues  of  European  courts  and  generations  of  hostile 
warrior  kings.  In  fact,  the  Sultan  promises  to  stand  fast  for  an  in- 
definite period.  However,  his  first  inroad  and  settlement  upon  the  Bos- 
phorus  was  indirectly  a  good  thing  for  Russia. 

The  Liberation  of  Russia. 

Constantine's  daughter,  fleeing  from  her  father's  capital,  had  sought 
refuge  within  the  sacred  walls  of  Rome,  and  when  Ivan  came  courting 
her  the  Pope  did  not  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  proposition  that  she  might 
share  the  Muscovite  throne.  This  brilliant  alliance  confirmed  the  Mus- 
covite autocracy  and  enabled  the  Grand  Prince  to  place  upon  his  ensigns 
the  two-headed  eagle  as  a  type  of  supreme  power.  With  this  proud 
Greek  princess,  better  manners  came  to  Moscow.  The  forms  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Byzantine  court,  and  the  arts  of  Greece  and  Rome  were 
brought  to  Russia. 

The  princess,  too,  was  proud  and  she  could  not  brook  the  spectacle 
of  Moscow  paying  tribute  to  a  barbarian.  She  gave  her  husband  no 
peace  until  he  had  thrown  off  the  Tartar  yoke  and  prepared  himself  to 
fight  for  the  dignity  and  the  independence  of  Russia. 

He,  also,  on  his  own  part  had  plenty  of  pride  and  ambition  when 
spurred  on  by  his  broad-minded  consort  and  he  decided  to  do  his  utmost 
to  raise  his  throne  to  an  equality  with  the  proudest  of  Europe,  fearing 
that  the  monarchs  of  the  older  and  more  advanced  nations  might  regard 
him  as  an  upstart.  He  stood  very  much  upon  his  dignity,  insisting  that 
he  should  be  treated  as  a  king.  He  instructed  his  ambassador  at  the 
Turkish  Court  neither  to  bend  the  knee  to  the  Sultan  nor  yield  prece- 
dence to  the  representative  of  any  other  power.  He  was  as  great  a 
stickler  for  etiquette  as  the  present  king  of  England,  and  as  particular 
about  the  marriages  of  the  blood  royal. 

King  by  Divine  Right. 

In  fact,  he  became  a  staunch  and'  strenuous  advocate  of  the  "divinity 
that  doth  hedge  about  a  king."     He  had  the  audacity  to  declare  that  he 


THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY.  155 

had  received  his  throne  from  the  high  and  mighty  Trinity  and  would 
not  degrade  himself  by  accepting  titles  from  any  prince  on  earth.  During 
a  long  and  prosperous  reign  he  did  much  to  increase  the  material  great- 
ness of  the  nation. 

He  became  a  pattern  of  industry  and  art,  and,  by  liberal  rewards, 
induced  skillful  artificers  from  abroad  to  flock  to  Moscow ;  he  rebuilt  and 
adorned  the  Kremlin,  decorated  it  with  all  the  splendors  of  which  the 
art  of  his  day  was  capable.  He  erected  great  buildings  and  palaces  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Government  and  in  war  adopted  the  use  of  artillery, 
causing  cannon  to  be  made  in  great  numbers. 

He  had  mines  opened  and  worked,  and  coined  money  of  silver  and 
copper  in  his  own  capital.  He  established  diplomatic  relations  with  for- 
eign nations  and  first  made  Russia  a  European  power  in  the  considera- 
tion of  the  other  Courts. 

His  reign  was  one  of  pomp  and  show.  Oriental  forms  and  ceremonies 
marking  the  character  of  his  court.  There  was  no  moral  element,  how- 
ever, in  all  his  grandeur  and  nothing  was  done  to  promote  the  elevation 
of  the  masses  of  the  people.  Though  said  to  be  guilty  of  personal  cow- 
ardice at  times,  when  his  wife  was  not  looking  on,  yet  by  the  victories 
of  his  arms,  he  added  twenty  thousand  square  miles  to  the  territory  of 
Russia  and  over  four  millions  of  people  to  its  population  during  a  reign 
of  forty-three  years,  which  had  surpassed  in  importance  to  his  country 
that  of  any  of  his  predecessors. 

Russian  Dominion  Extended. 

Ivan  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Vassilli  III,  who  came  to  the  throne 
in  1305.  His  mother  was  Sophia,  and  he  was  not  the  true  heir,  being 
the  son  of  a  second  marriage.  His  brother,  however,  who  should  have 
received  the  scepter,  was  thrown  into  prison  for  four  years,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  was  put  to  death.  He  ruled  twenty-eight  years,  and 
through  wars  with  the  Tartars  and  with  Lithuania  greatly  extended  his 
dominions.  He  acquired  Smolensk,  and,  although  his  reign  was  some- 
what tame  between  that  of  the  two  Ivans,  yet  during  his  time  Russia 
moved  towards  unity  and  the  authority  of  the  Autocracy  did  not  diminish. 


156  THE   MUSCOVITE   DYNASTY. 

» 

At  his  death  his  empire,  enlarged  and  extended,  was  left  to  his  in- 
fant son,  Ivan,  Helena,  his  wife,  being  appointed  Regent.  This  woman, 
it  is  sad  to  state,  appears  to  have  been  of  utterly  depraved  character. 
After  six  years  of  crime  and  misrule  she  died  unregretted  and  no  cor- 
oner's inquest  was  held  over  the  remains — poison  was  hinted  at. 

Ivan,  "The  Great,"  had  first  assumed  the  title  of  "Tsar"  and  v/e  now 
come  to  his  successor,  who  rtdlh  eserved  the  title  and  began  a  period 
where  the  rule  of  czars,  as  autocrats,  upon  a  large  scale  and  with  unlim- 
ited power,  may  be  said  in  reality  to  have  started.  The  man  who  thus 
filled  the  bill  was  Ivan,  "The  Terrible,"  whom  we  have  dignified  as  "The 
First  Czar"  with  the  above  explanation,  though  in  fact  the  title 
was  first  assumed  by  his  predecessors.  We  have  given  him  this  honor, 
because  of  his  peculiar  and  surpassing  fitness  for  the  title  and  his  exer- 
cise of  supreme  tyranny,  so  obnoxious  to  modern  nations  indeed  that 
except  in  the  case  of  Russia,  absolute  personal  despotism  has  been  abol- 
ished throughout  the  world  among  the  white  races. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  FIRST  CZAR 

Ivan  the  Terrible — Early  Demoralization — Shuiski  Thrown  to  the  Dogs — Influence  of 
Ivan's  Wife — Awful  Atrocities — Proposes  Marriage  to  Queen  Elizabeth — Feodor  the 
Imbecile — Boris  the  Evil  Genius — The  False  Dimitri — Vassilli  Shuiski. 

IN  ORDER  to  not  mislead  the  reader,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention 
to  what  was  stated  in  the  previous  chapter  upon  one  point.  That 
is  that  "Ivan  the  Terrible,"  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1533,  was  not 
the  first  Muscovite  prince  who  called  himself  Czar,  but  that  simply 
to  give  him  the  conspicuous  place  which  he  deserves  in  the  history  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  we  have  placed  him  in  a  chapter  thus  headed. 

Youthful  Days  of  Ivan. 

During  his  minority,  and  after  the  death  of  his  mother  of  evil  repute, 
the  government  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  Council  of  Regency,  with  Prince 
Andrew  Shuiski  at  its  head.  This  gentleman  and  his  associates  appear 
to  have  been  most  unprincipled  and  designing  villains.  The  iniquities 
which  they  practiced  were  so  refined  as  to  be  a  marvel  to  the  greatest 
and  most  accomplished  past-master  in  wickedness,  which  even  the  author 
of  the  old  fairy  tales  could  invent. 

These  men  actually  began  a  deliberate  education  of  corruption  in- 
tended either  to  brutalize  or  perhaps  to  cause  the  death  of  the  young 
man  left  to  their  charge  and  who  was  destined,  should  he  survive  their 
deviltries,  to  become  the  absolute  master  of  the  fortunes  of  the  patient 
millions  of  Russia. 

He  was  designedly  accustomed  in  early  years  to  deeds  of  cruelty, 
and  to  imbibe  a  disregard  for  the  life  and  well  being  of  subordinates. 
His  guardians  mocked  at  his  better  impulses  and  applauded  his  crimes. 
He  was  encouraged,  for  example,  to  drive  furiously  about  the  streets 

157 


158  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

of  Moscow,  running  over  old  people  and  young  children  and  trampling 
them  under  his  horses'  feet  as  a  mark  of  the  superiority  of  royal  blood 
over  the  rights  of  lower  humanity. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  said  that  they  in  turn  did  not  hesitate  to 
visit  him  with  abuse  or  even  bodily  punishment,  and  while  encouraging 
his  egotism  on  the  one  hand,  they  embittered  and  humiliated  him  on  the 
other. 

Surrounded  by  Evil  Influences. 

Under  such  training  any  boy  would  have  been  spoiled,  and  the  result 
was  that  as  he  grew  to  manhood  Ivan's  nature  was  dwarfed  and  per- 
verted, all  that  was  good  in  him  having  been  repressed  and  all  that  was 
bad  having  been  stimulated  and  cultivated. 

With  his  fourteenth  year,  old  in  wickedness,  he  was  ripe  for  revolt 
against  his  oppressors,  and  declared  that  he  would  rule  without  aid  of  a 
Council,  and  in  a  fit  of  passion  against  Andrew  Shuiski,  he  ordered  him 
to  be  thrown  to  his  dogs.  The  order  was  obeyed,  and  the  head  of  the 
powerful  house  of  Shuiski  expiated  a  life  of  violence  and  crime  by  being 
torn  to  pieces  in  the  kennels  of  the  bloodhounds. 

The  young  Czarowitch  was  not,  however,  to  gain  his  liberty  thus 
easily,  for  the  Gluiskis,  another  powerful  family,  rose  to  ascendency  in 
the  State,  and  the  young  prince  fell  under  their  evil  influence  for  the 
next  three  or  four  years  after  his  summary  liberation  from  the  other 
tyrant.  Finally  in  his  eighteenth  year,  after  a  minority  of  blood  and 
horror,  Ivan  IV  was  crowned  Tsar.  This  was  in  January,  1547.  Soon 
afterwards  he  was  married  to  a  lady  named  Anastasia  Romanova. 

Ivan's  Character  Undergoes  a  Change. 

About  this  time  Moscow  was  greatly  injured  by  conflagrations 
started  by  its  own  exasperated  people,  it  is  said,  although  some  his- 
torians attribute  them  to  the  machinations  of  Ivan's  political  enemies. 
At  any  rate  these  events  and  the  influence  of  two  priests,  together  with 
that  of  his  young  wife,  seem  to  have  aroused  him  to  a  proper  apprecia- 
tion of  the  enormity  of  his  past  deeds,  and  his  character  underwent  a 
sudden  and  very  marked  change  for  the  better. 


THE   FIRST   CZAR.  159 

He  busied  himself  to  extend  the  confines  of  his  realm,  and  in  1552 
he  became  master  of  Kazan  and  two  years  later  of  Astrakhan,  forcing 
back  the  Mongols  steadily  toward  the  Caspian  Sea. 

Having  broken  the  Mongol  power  in  the  south,  and  strengthened 
the  buttresses  of  his  dominions  on  the  east,  he  then  turned  his  attention 
to  the  north,  being  anxious  to  open  up  communications  with  the  western 
world.  He  was  thus  brought  into  collision  with  the  Swedes  and  the 
Teutonic  Knights,  which  resulted  in  a  war  between  the  Muscovite  and 
the  Order.  In  1558  Ivan  invaded  Livonia,  taking  several  towns,  where- 
upon the  Knights  made  an  alliance  with  the  King  of  Poland,  and  war 
ensued. 

The  Czar  Justifies  His  Atrocious  Acts. 

Unfortunately  for  the  history  of  the  man,  at  this  time  his  character 
seems  to  have  undergone  a  second  sudden  change.  His  wife  Anastasia 
died  and  the  Tsar  seems  to  have  been  seized  with  a  crazy  madness 
which  led  him  to  all  sorts  of  atrocities.  He  banished  the  priests  under 
whose  good  influence  he  had  been  for  several  years,  and  thought  only 
of  vengeance  upon  his  enemies  and  the  prosecution  of  wars  abroad  and 
suppression  at  home. 

All  his  subjects  were  afraid  of  him  and  the  treason  of  one  of  the 
princes,  Andrew  Kurbski,  who  seems  to  have  been  literally  frightened 
into  desertion  to  the  Poles,  led  to  the  writing  of  a  letter  by  Ivan  which 
has  been  preserved  and  which  is  interesting  as  showing  the  tyrant's 
own  estimate  of  his  own  acts.  He  dwells  upon  the  degrading  subjec- 
tion in  which  he  had  been  kept  by  his  early  advisers  and  attempts  to 
justify  his  cruelty  by  saying  that  the  people  whom  he  had  killed  were 
only  his  slaves  over  whom  God  had  given  him  the  power  of  life  and 
death.     How  like  a  czar! 

The  Nation  in  a  Turmoil. 

The  conduct  of  the  monarch  from  this  time  forward  certainly  indi- 
cates a  condition  of  semi-insanity.  In  December,  1564,  he  retired  with 
a  small  retinue  to  a  retreat  near  Moscow,  and  the  nobility,  afraid  that 
the  monarch  was  about  to  desert  the  country  and  plunge  them  into  a 


i6o  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

turmoil  over  the  succession,  waited  upon  him  in  a  body  and  implored 
his  return.  He  finally  consented  and  brought  back  with  him  woes  and 
miseries  to  which  the  devoted  citizens  of  his  capital  were  compelled  to 
submit.  It  is  surprising  what  Russians  will  stand  from  the  autocrat 
whom  they  regard  as  their  ruler  by  the  will  of  God.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  in  1564  the  first  printing  press  was  set  up  in  Moscow,  and 
thus  the  supreme  agent  of  modern  enlightenment  found  a  humble  foot- 
hold in  the  capital  of  the  chief  tyrant  of  the  century. 

Ivan,  after  his  return,  began  a  series  of  atrocities  too  numerous  to 
mention,  but  among  them  may  be  noted  the  murder  of  Philip,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Moscow,  the  execution  of  Alexandra,  the  widow  of  his  brother, 
the  burning  and  sacking  of  Novgorod  for  having  questioned  his  author- 
ity, and  lastly  the  terrible  butcheries  on  the  Red  Square. 

The  Destruction  of  Novgorod. 

Novgorod,  which  he  ruthlessly  destroyed,  was  one  of  the  oldest 
commonwealths  in  Europe,  antedating  that  of  Florence  in  Italy.  The 
city  was  larger  than  London  at  that  time.  It  was  a  place  rich  in  his- 
toric memories  and  linked  with  the  whole  past  of  Russia  whose  capital 
it  had  been  six  centuries  before  Moscow  was  built  and  a  thousand  years 
before  the  founding  of  St.  Petersburg. 

This  ancient  capital  was  a  proud,  wealthy,  and  luxurious  city,  en- 
closed within  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles  of  walls  and  containing  at  this  time 
perhaps  four  hundred  thousand  people. 

Ivan  knew  that  it  hated  his  rule  and  suspected  that  it  desired  to  be 
taken  under  the  protection  of  Sweden.  He  swore  that  he  would  raze 
Novgorod  and  sow  its  site  with  salt.  He  invaded  it  with  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  Tartars  and  for  six  weeks  personally  directed  the  ravag- 
ing of  its  fields  and  the  burning  and  destruction  of  the  city.  He  ordered 
his  soldiers  to  burn,  slay,  and  give  no  quarter  to  old  or  young.  Like 
Nero  in  the  great  circus  when  Christians  were  slaughtered  for  his 
amusement,  Ivan  personally  took  a  hand  in  the  wholesale  butchery, 
the  streets  ran  with  blood,  and  the  river  was  actually  choked  with  the 
bodies  of  the  dead.     Over  sixty  thousand  people  lost  their  lives  in  the 


THE   FIRST   CZAR.  i6i 

general  scramble  and  terror.  Novgorod  never  recovered  from  this 
catastrophe  and  has  remained  to  this  day  a  village.  Other  smaller 
cities  shared  the  same  fate. 

Philip  Prior  the  Martyr. 

It  is  hard  to  comprehend  a  condition  of  society  which  would  permit 
of  such  mad  tyranny^  but  history  tells  the  same  long  story  throughout 
his  later  days.  Even  in  his  own  capital^  scenes  similar  to  those  at 
Novgorod  were  enacted  and  rt  is  reported  that  often  at  the  end  of  some 
bloody  atrocity,  he  would  piously  lift  his  eyes  to  Heaven  and  ask  an 
interest  in  the  prayers  of  his  dear  people. 

One  of  Ivan's  martyrs  was  Philip  Prior,  a  priest  famous  for  the  parity 
of  his  life  and  example.  He  dared  at  one  time  to  rebuke  the  crimes  oi 
the  Czar  to  his  face.  The  Greek  church  has  canonized  him.  His  re- 
mains have  been  removed  to  Moscow,  and  on  the  day  of  his  coronation 
every  czar  of  Russia  must  kneel  before  his  shrine  and  kiss  his  feet. 

A  Czar  of  Many  Wives. 

Ivan  violated  all  the  laws  he  knew  or  which  were  regarded  in  his 
time  as  binding  upon  mankind.  He  did  violence  to  the  strictest  canons 
of  his  church  by  taking  to  himself  as  many  wives  as  fancy  suited  him. 
His  crazy  audacity  led  him  to  the  extremity  of  offering  his  hand  to 
Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  when  he  already  bad  seven  living  wives. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  haughty,  red-haired  spinster  of  England  did 
not  give  much  attention  to  his  suit,  and  he  therefore,  unabashed,  offered 
his  heart  and  hand  to  one  of  her  ladies  of  honor,  Mary  Hastings,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Huntington.  The  distinction  was  declined,  however, 
and  Ivan  solaced  himself  by  putting  to  death  the  ambassador,  who  had 
done  the  courting  for  him  at  the  British  capital. 

It  was  during  this  reign  that  England  first  entered  into  relations  with 
Russia.  This  was  while  young  Edward  the  Sixth  was  king,  in  1553. 
Three  ships  were  sent  out  to  look  for  a  northeast  passage  to  China  and 
India,,  and  the  expedition  wound  up  at  the  Court  of  Ivan,  who  received 
the   English  pleasantly  and  granted  certain   trading  privileges   in  his 


i62  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

dominions  to  the  north.  This,  of  course,  was  before  the  matrimonial 
episode,  for  the  young  king's  sister,  Elizabeth,  at  that  time  did  not  seem 
to  be  very  near  to  the  throne  which  she  afterwards  made  so  bloody  and 
so  illustrious  in  letters  and  conquest  on  the  high  seas. 

Latter  Years  of  Ivan's  Reign. 

Ivan  was  continually  at  war  in  the  Baltic  territory,  and  on  the  whole 
not  very  successful  in  this  region.  Nevertheless,  he  found  opportunity 
now  and  then  to  sack  a  city  and  put  to  death  a  few  thousand  of  her 
devoted  people. 

In  1571,  however,  the  Mongols  made  another  invasion  from  the 
Crimea,  and  in  the  language  of  Hakluit  they  "burned  Moscow  every 
stick."  In  1572,  when  the  King  of  Poland  died,  Ivan  declared  himself 
as  one  of  the  competitors  for  the  throne,  but  not  gaining  it  he  made 
war  upon  the  successful  prince,  Stephen  Batory,  who  proved  a  for- 
midable foe  to  the  tyrant,  who  was  now  growing  old  in  years  as  welt 
as  wickedness. 

During  his  reign  the  conquest  of  Siberia  was  begun.  The  campaign 
had  been  carried  on  by  a  Cossack  chief  named  Yermak,  who  had  for- 
merly been  a  robber,  but  he  purchased  his  pardon  from  the  autocrat  at 
Moscow  by  laying  his  conquests  at  his  feet. 

The  declining  days  of  the  tyrant  were  made  bitter  by  the  death  of 
his  eldest  son  as  the  result  of  a  blow  by  his  own  hand.  In  a  fit  of 
passion  he  struck  him  with  his  iron  staff  and  when  the  youth  died  his 
father's  grief  and  remorse  still  further  tended  to  embitter  his  morose 
disposition.  It  was  not  surprising  that  after  all  his  wickedness  and  with 
the  weakness  of  old  age  coming  upon  him,  he  became  continually  afraid 
of  conspiracies  which  might  be  hatched  by  his  subjects,  and  he  resorted 
to  fortune  tellers  and  the  divination  of  witches  for  protection.  The  best 
act  of  his  career  of  villainy  and  atrocity  was  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  the  year  1584. 

A  Weak  Prince. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Theodore,  or  Feodor,  as  the  Russians 
call  him,  who  held  the  reigns  of  power  for  fourteen  years,  up  to  1598. 


THE   FIRST   CZAr..  163 

He  was  a  weak  prince,  controlled  by  a  council  of  nobles,  the  head  of 
which  was  his  brother-in-law,  Boris  Gitdunof.  He  was  old  enough  to 
reign  as  an  autocrat  as  his  father  had  done  before  him,  but  he  was  a 
harmless,  imbecile  whose  greatest  pleasure  from  early  childhood  had 
been  to  hide  in  church  towers  and  ring  the  bells  at  inopportune  hours. 
His  kinsman,  Boris,  began  immediately  to  plot  his  ruin,  but  was  deterred 
from  doing  away  with  him  by  the  fact  that  should  Feodor  die,  another 
son  of  Ivan  IV  named  Dimitri,  a  son  of  his  seventh  wife,  would  still 
be  in  line. 

One  day  in  May,  1591,  this  lad  was  found  with  his  throat  cut  in  the 
courtyard  of  the  royal  palace.  The  imbecility  of  Feodor  offering  no 
obstacle  to  the  actual  rule  by  Boris,  he  was  allowed  to  live  until  seven 
years  after,  when  he  died,  probably,  a  natural  death.  He  was  the  last 
of  the  line  of  Rurik,  a  house  which  for  eight  hundred  years  had  reigned 
and  had  given  fifty-two  sovereigns  to  the  empire. 

Boris  Succeeds  to  the  Throne. 

Boris  was  crowned  czar  and  ruled  with  an  iron  hand  so  that,  although 
some  of  the  remote  collateral  branches  of  the  house  of  Rurik  still  existed, 
none  dared  to  aspire  to  the  sovereignty.  The  great  princes  whom  he 
could  not  cajole,  or  coerce,  he  exiled.  He  was  of  Tartar  descent  and 
fully  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Asiatic  despotism  and  was  just  the  man 
to  oppress  Russia  with  the  heavy  yoke  of  serfdom  at  a  time  when  bond- 
age to  the  soil  had  for  the  most  part  ceased  in  the  rest  of  Europe.  His 
administration  was  brilliant  and  able,  and  under  his  name  Russia  won 
fame  both  in  arms  and  diplomacy. 

He  was  respected  abroad  and  feared  and  hated  at  home.  The  noblest 
and  best  families  were  in  exile  and  the  people,-  crushed  under  a  ruthless 
despotism,  became  sullen  and  despondent.  The  minstrels  who,  under 
the  influence  of  the  romantic  days  of  the  Renaissance,  had  risen  to  great 
popularity  and  who  enlivened  the  times  with  songs  and  stories  of 
chivalry,  disappeared.  The  cold  chill  of  suppression  fell  upon  the  genius 
of  the  people.  Before  his  time  a  form  of  literature  which  could  exist 
without  the  art  of  printing  had  attained  a  splendid  development. 


i64  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

A  Period  of  National  Depression. 

It  kept  alive,  on  the  lips  of  the  people  and  in  the  memory  of  the 
peasants,  by  oral  traditions,  the  lyric  poetry,  marriage  songs,  funeral 
dirges,  and  holiday  hymns  which  marked  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
masses.  Narratives,  sometimes  in  prose  and  sometimes  in  poetry,  glori- 
fied their  old  heroes.  There  were  religious  verses  which  sang  the  praises 
of  Russian  saints  from  village  to  village,  and  music,  painting,  and  the 
decorative  arts  had  made  considerable  advances.  All  these  evidences 
of  intellectual  awakening  were  obliterated  under  the  national  depres- 
sion of  the  serf  system  under  Boris. 

The  Cossack  peasantry,  an  industrious  and  peaceable  race,  fled  in 
a  body  from  this  tyranny,  taking  refuge  in  the  country  of  their  ancestors 
on  their  native  steppes  in  Asia,  and  the  result  was  a  horrible  famine, 
which  lasted  for  three  years,  spreading  despair  over  the  whole  country. 

A  Curious  Episode. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  suffering,  a  report  was  spread  that  Dimitri, 
the  youngest  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  was  not  dead,  and  that,  there- 
fore, Boris  was  a  usurper.  This  episode  of  the  false  Dimitri  is  one  of 
the  most  curious  in  Russian  history. 

Although  it  would  seem  impossible  at  first  glance  for  an  entire 
nation  to  give  credence  to  such  a  story,  yet  it  must  be  remembered  that 
other  pretensions  of  a  similar  nature  have  been  known  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  even  in  modern  times  the  so-called  "lost  Dauphin" 
of  France  has  received  a  great  deal  of  notice  from  historians. 

If  Eleazer  Williams,  a  half  breed  Canadian  Indian,  could  pose  through 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  as  a  son  of  Louis  XVI  and 
Marie  Antoinette,  who  had  escaped  the  "Reign  of  Terror"  of  the  French 
Revolution,  how  can  we  wonder  that  the  ignorant  masses  of  Russia 
at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  should  have  given  ear  to  an 
imposter? 

The  rise  and  fall  of  this  false  Dimitri  hold  a  large  place  in  Russian 
history  of  the  time.    It  seems  that  his  real  name  was  Gregory  Otrepief, 


THE   FIRST   CZAR.  165 

and  that  he  was  -a  young  monk  who  could  read  and  write.  These 
accomplishments,  rare  in  his  day,  had  given  him  a  place  in  the  service  of 
a  Polish  prince  who  passed  much  time  at  the  court  of  the  czar.  It  is 
related  that  this  prince  one  day  gave  his- secretary  a  box  on  the  ear,  and 
that  the  young  man  burst  into  tears,  exclaiming,  "If  you  knew  who  I 
am,  you  would  not  strike  me."  He  then  told  a  very  plausible  story, 
declaring  that  his  real  name  was  Dimitri,  and  that  he  was  the  true  heir 
to  the  Russian  throne.  ^ 

"I  Mean  to  Become  Czar  of  Russia." 

Although  the  story  does  not  appear  to  have  made  much  impression 
upon  the  Polish  prince  at  the  time,  he  afterwards,  either  through  con- 
viction or  selfish  motives,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  impostor.  The 
story  runs  that  the  young  monk  learned  many  secrets  and  particulars 
of  the  life  of  the  murdered  czarowitch  from  old  servants  and  that  he 
ascertained  the  names  and  titles  of  the  officers  who  had  been  attached  to 
the  boy's  person  and  became  possessed,  probably  through  the  same 
sources,  of  a  seal  bearing  Dimitri's  initials  and  a  cross  set  with  dia- 
monds, said  to  have  been  his  baptismal  gifts. 

Having  prepared  his  part,  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to  retire  from 
the  court.  When  asked  why  he  should  seek  to  leave  the  capital  where, 
with  his  talent  and  learning  he  might  have  a  brilliant  future,  he  replied, 
"By  remaining  here  I  should  become  a  Bishop  at  most,  but  I  mean  to 
be  Czar  of  Russia." 

This  declaration  having  finally  reached  the  ears  of  Boris  himself, 
he  j^ave  orders  to  have  the  crazy  monk  sent  to  a  remote  cloister  and 
thought  no  more  about  him.  Otrepief  set  out,  but  instead  of  retiring  to 
the  seclusion  intended  for  him,  he  ran  away  and  escaped  into  Lithuania, 
always  hostile  to  the  czar.  At  every  monastery  he  passed  he  would 
write  on  the  wall,  "I  am  Dimitri,  son  of  Ivan  IV:  although  believed  to 
be  dead,  I  escaped  from  my  assassins.  When  I  am  upon  my  father's 
throne,  I  will  recompense  the  generous  men  who  now  show  me  hos- 
pitality." 


i66  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

Many  Espouse  the  Cause  of  Dimitri. 

These  bulletins  began  to  make  a  sensation,  and  the  young  monk,  now 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  found  ready  believers  among  those  who  fancied 
they  saw  a  resemblance  to  his  mother,  the  late  Tsarina  Mary.  He 
claimed  certain  marks  of  identity  on  his  person,  and  the  royal  seal  and 
the  diamon.d  cross  were  considered  ample  proofs  that  the  young  man 
was  no  impostor.  It  is  probable  that  many  were  not  over-particular  in 
examining  his  claims  because  anything  was  preferable  to  the  reign  of 
Boris. 

The  Jesuits  espoused  his  cause  and  became  his  most  zealous  ad- 
herents, and  the  Pope's  Nuncio  promised  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Father, 
provided,  of  course,  that  when  the  young  man  became  czar  he-  would 
further  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Poles  were  ready  to 
help  him,  for  hatred  of  Moscow,  and  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  flocked 
to  the  Pretender's  standard  to  avenge  many  wrongs  at  the  hands  of  the 
tyrant.  Ukraine  declared  for  him,  and  soon  he  had  an  army  of  fifty 
thousand  men  with  which  he  appeared  on  the  Russian  frontier. 

The  Death  of  Boris. 

Boris  had  already  sent  an  army  of  similar  size  against  him,  and, 
after  some  fruitless  skirmishing,  the  battle  was  joined  and,  although 
the  contest  was  for  a  long  time  doubtful,  the  forces  of  the  impostor 
finally  triumphed.  For  some  reason  he  did  not  press  his  victory,  but 
issued  a  proclamation  calling  upon  Boris  to  come  down  from  the  throne 
and  make  his  peace  with  Heaven. 

Boris  knew  very  well  that  the  man  was  an  impostor,  because  he 
had  secured  the  murder  of  the  real  Dimitri,  but  he  was  a  very  super- 
stitious man,  and,  haunted  by  an  imaginary  phantom  of  his  youthful 
victim,  he  came  to  believe  that  the  son  of  Ivan  IV  had  really  risen  from 
his  grave  and  headed  the  victorious  army  that  w^as  about  to  enter 
Moscow  and  drive  him  from  his  throne. 

He  gave  no  sign,  however,  of  his  intentions  or  feelings  to  his  coun- 
selors, but  he  plotted  his  own  death,  and  resolved  to  die  as  he  had  lived. 


THE   FIRST   CZAR.  167 

a  sovereign.  Rising  from  a  splendid  banquet  given  to  some  distin- 
guished foreigners  in  his  palace,  he  v^as  taken  suddenly  ill  and  died  in 
two  hours.  It  was  believed  that  the  cause  of  his  death  was  poison 
administered  by  his  own  hand. 

His  son,  Feodor,  a  youth  of  sixteen  whom  he  had  named  as  his  suc- 
cessor, ruled  for  six  weeks,  when  he,  with  his  mother  and  sister,  was 
captured  and  thrown  into  prison  by  Dimitri,  who  treated  them  with 
respect  and  kindness. 

A  Humane  Ruler. 

On  the  loth  of  June,  1605,  the  impostor  finally  made  a  triumphal 
«ntry  into  Moscow  and  was  crowned  in  the  palace  of  the  czar. 

This  young  man,  whoever  he  was,  was  a  remarkable  character.  He 
possessed  a  commanding  and  agreeable  person,  a  persuasive  eloquence, 
and  he  was  gracious  and  afifable  in  manner,  yet  dignified  as  became  a 
sovereign.  He  was  as  brilliant  of  intellect  as  he  was  good  of  heart. 
He  possessed  the  faculty  of  creating  enthusiastic  devotion  among  the 
people. 

He  started  out  on  his  reign  auspiciously.  He  surprised  all  by  his 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  empire,  its  wants  and  resources,  and 
his  memory  for  places  and  people  excited  universal  wonder.  He  set  out 
reforming  abuses  and  proved  himself  to  be  a  man  with  neither  favorite 
nor  master. 

On  public  and  private  occasions,  he  waived  the  usual  solemn  etiquette 
of  his  predecessors  and  was  always  easy  of  approach.  He  appeared  at 
the  door  of  his  palace  twice  a  week  to  listen  to  the  grievances  of  the 
people  and  receive  their  petitions  with  his  own  hands.  He  was  humane 
and  moderate,  and  those  who  believed  that  he  was  an  impostor  began  to 
be  sorry  that  he  really  had  not  been  born  to  the  throne. 
The  Czarina  Acknowledges  Dimitri. 

One  of  his  fixed  determinations  was,  as  he  declared,  to  shed  no 
■Christian  blood,  and  this  was  so  unlike  the  habits  of  a  real  czar  that 
the  people  marveled.  In  the  meantime  his  alleged  mother,  the  late 
Czarina  Mary,  was  still  living  as  a  nun  in  a  convent  where  she  had  been 
sent  by  Boris,  and  when  the  young  man  had  been  in  power  for  a  month 


i68  THE   FIRST   CZAR. 

the  return  of  tliis  royal  nun  was  arranged.  Dimitri  went  out  to  m-eet 
her,  and  in  the  royal  tent  they  spent  some  time  alone. 

Whether  the  lady  really  knew  that  the  young  man  was  an  impostor 
or  not  will  probal)ly  never  be  settled,  although  it  is  believed  that  she 
must  have  been  aware  of  the  murder  of  her  son,  and  indeed  must  have 
seen  his  dead  body.  At  any  rate,  Dimitri  and  Mary  appeared  presently 
before  the  people,  where  the  Czarina  pub)licly  embraced  and  acknowl- 
edged the  impostor  as  her  son. 

The  young  Czar  ostentatiously  placed  his  alleged  mother  in  a  car- 
riage and  walked  beside  it  bareheaded  toward  Moscow.  She  was 
assigned  apartments  at  the  Kremlin,  and  in  every  way  treated  in  a 
manner  "becoming  her  dignity. 

The  young  Czar  married  the  popular  and  beautiful  <3aughter  of  the 
Palatine  of  Sendomir,  whom  he  had  met  while  traveling  in  Poland 
where  he  had  become  betrothed  to  her.  The  wedding  occurred  on  the 
i8th  of  May,  1606,  being  celebrated  with  great  pomp  at  Moscow. 

A  Race  War. 

The  young  man's  troubles  began  here.  The  enormotis  retinue  of 
Poles  that  had  attended  his  hride  on  her  journey  to  the  Russian  capital 
bore  thernselves  in  the  most  arrogant  manner  towards  the  Russians, 
and  the  old  and  undying  animosity  between  the  two  races  was  kindled 
anew. 

Discontent  reigned  among  the  people,  based  upon  reports  that  the 
Czar  had  already  surrounded  himself  with  Polish  counselors,  and  had 
abandoned  old  Russian  traditions  and  customs,  and,  though  nominally 
an  adherent  of  the  Greek  Church,  he  was  really  a  Papist  at  heart.  But 
the  greatest  of  all  his  sins  was  this  marriage  with  an  unbaptized  woman, 
a  Polish  heretic,  so  regarded,  because  she  had  not  been  immersed  and 
the  Greek  Church  baptizes  only  by  immersion.  The  result  was  a  re- 
bellion under  Prince  Vassilli  Shuiski.  This  prince  had  before  headed  a 
conspiracy  against  the  new  Czar  and  had  been  sentenced  to  exile  in 
Siberia,  but  the  Czar  had  pardoned  him. 

The  revolution  made  such  headway  that  at  daybreak  on  the  24th 


THE   FIRST   CZAR.  169 

of  May  the  whole  city  was  in  rebellion,  and  Dimitri  was  warned  of  his 
danger  but  would  not  listen.  In  the  meantime  a  fanatical  religious 
riot  was  fomented  on  the  streets,  and  there  were  loud  cries  for  orthodox 
Christians  to  rise  and  put  to  death  the  inmates  of  the  houses  where  the 
Poles  lodged,  which  had  been  marked  with  chalk  the  night  before.  The 
palace  of  the  Czar  was  stormed  by  an  armed  mob  shouting  "Death  to 
the  impostor!"  Dimitri  seized  a  sword  and  defended  himself  with  great 
bravery,  and  his  guards  stood  by  their  master  until  the  last. 

Death  of  Dimitri. 

Finally,  seeing  further  resistance  useless,  Dimitri  leaped  from  a 
back  window  of  the  palace  and  broke  his  leg  in  the  fall.  Fainting  with 
pain  he  was  seized  by  the  mob  and  ignominiously  put  to  death.  He  died 
stoutly  claiming  that  he  was  indeed  the  Czar  Dimitri,  although  there 
seems  to  be  not  the  least  doubt  that  he  was  in  fact,  as  historians  have 
unanimously  rated  him,  a  pretender. 

Vassilli  Shuiski  succeeded  him.  After  a  stormy  reign  of  four  years 
he  was  deposed^  in  1610,  and  thrown  into  prison  where  he  ended  his 
days.  One  ambitious  prince  after  another  now  grasped  the  sceptre 
only  to  be  deposed  by  a  more  powerful  rival,  until  out  of  this  peri<Ki 
of  anarchy  and  civil  war  the  dynasty  of  the  Romanoffs  came  forth 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE   ROMANOFFS 

The  House  of  Rurik  Becomes  Extinct— Election  of  a  New  Czar — Michael  Romanoff, 
Founder  of  Russia,  Chosen — His  Administration  Marked  ty  Great  Wisdom — His  Son 
Alexis  Succeeds  Him — Incorporation  of  Ukraine  and  Country  of  the  Cossacks — Wars 
with  Sweden  and  Poland — Civil  Rebellion — Feodor  III  Ascends  the  Throne — Old 
Custom  of  Choosing  a  Wife  for  the  Czar  Abolished — Ivan  and  Peter  Become  Joint 
Sovereigns — Peter  the  Great,  His  Remarkable  Character — ^Wars  with  Sweden  and 
Turkey — ^Founding  of  St.  Petersburg. 

OUR  narrative  has  now  reached  the  restorative  period  of  Russian 
history.  We  have  seen  how  Russia,  from  a  collection  of  bar- 
barous tribes,  has  gradually  become  a  great  group  of  Slavic-Tartar 
principalities,  and  how  out  of  the  turmoil  of  centuries  the  Muscovite 
princes  of  the  house  of  Rurik  had  become  pre-eminent,  until  Ivan  the 
Great  assumed  the  title  of  Czar,  and  Ivan  the  Terrible  became  the  fin- 
ished article  in  the  line  of  an  absolute  and  fully-developed  irresponsible 
despot.  We  have  seen  how  he  was  succeeded  by  political  confusion  and 
finally  anarchy. 

How  the  Czar  Was  Chosen. 

In  1612,  in  November,  the  throne  being  vacant,  the  nobles  met  in 
council  and  dispatched  letters  to  every  town  in  the  empire,  summoning 
the  clergy,  nobility  and  citizens  to  send  delegates  to  Moscow  to  meet  in 
a  national  assembly  and  proceed  with  the  election  of  a  czar.  This  was 
necessary  because  the  direct  line  of  the  house  of  Rurik  having  run  out, 
there  was  no  recognized  heir  to  the  throne.  There  were  many  claim- 
ants, not  only  within  Russia,  but  candidates  from  neighboring  kingdoms, 
and  indeed  the  King  of  Poland  was  ready,  and  did  subsequently,  in  spite 
of  the  action  of  the  National  Congress,  declare  himself  Czar  of  Russia. 

A  fast  of  three  days  was  appointed  throughout  the  country  that  the 

170 


THE    ROMANOFFS.  171 

people  might  invoke  God's  blessing  on  the  choice  of  a  new  sovereign. 
This  fast  was  most  devoutly  observed  by  the  nation. 

The  day  of  election  finally  arrived  in  Lent,  in  the  year  1613,  and  the 
choice,  fortunately  for  Russia,  fell  upon  Michael  Romanoff,  destined  to 
become  the  head  of  the  dynasty  of  able  rulers,  distinguished  warriors 
and,  usually,  estimable  men  who  have  composed  the  royal  family  of 
Russia  from  that  day  to  the  present  time.  It  thus  happens  that  the 
Russian  Empire  as  a  whole,  as  we  know  it,  has  never  had  but  two  ruling 
houses,  namely,  the  dynasties  of  Rurik  and  Romanoff. 

The  Romanoffs  a  Distinguished  Family. 

The  young  Czar  was  a  youth  of  sixteen,  personally  unknown,  but 
recommended  by  the  virtues  of  his  father,  a  high  dignitary  of  the  Greek 
Church.  This  family  had  long  been  distinguished  for  brilliant  public 
service,  exalted  patriotism  and  personal  integrity.  Through  the  female 
branch  they  were  connected  with  the  royal  line  of  Rurik. 

Before  he  assumed  the  crown  young  Michael  bound  himself  by  the 
most  solemn  oaths  to  protect  the  Greek  Church,  to  seek  no  revenge  for 
injuries  suffered  by  his  family  in  the  past,  to  change  none  of  the  old 
laws  and  to  make  no  new  ones,  to  declare  neither  war  nor  peace,  to 
decide  upon  nothing  without  the  advice  of  his  Council  of  State,  to 
surrender  his  own  estates  and  incorporate  them  with  the  crown  lands. 

Peace  the  Prime  Object  of  the  Czar. 

The  result  was  that  the  country  once  more  enjoyed  peace;  pre- 
tenders to  the  throne  no  longer  were  countenanced;  old  feuds  were 
healed;  diplomatic  relations  were  formed  with  other  countries  and 
Russia  began  to  take  her  just  place  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
then  Western  world.  Throughout  the  reign,  peace  was  consistently 
observed  and  aimed  at,  as  the  prime  object  and  necessity  of  the  adminis- 
tration, in  order  that  the  country  wasted  by  so  many  years  of  war  and 
tyranny  might  have  a  time  of  convalescence. 

Perhaps  the  most  familiar  and  true  comparison  to  be  made,  in  order 


172  THE    ROMANOFFS. 

to  illustrate  the  progress  of  Russia  under  the  first  Romanoff,  is  the  case 
of  Mexico  under  President  Porfirio  Diaz.  As  Diaz  has  made  modern 
Mexico,  so  Michael  Romanoff  founded  modern  Russia. 

Compared  to  Modern  Mexico. 

Like  Russia,  Mexico  had  long  suffered  the  woes  of  internal  dissen- 
sion and  embarrassment  of  foreign  hostility  invited  by  her  weakness. 
Throwing  off  the  yoke  of  Spain,  when  that  power  began  to  decline  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  long  series  of  republics  and 
dictatorships  with  various  constitutions  had  succeeded  each  other. 

Plundered  by  military  self-seekers,  repressed  by  the  domination  of 
monks,  despoiled  of  her  territory  at  the  behest  of  the  slave  power -of 
the  United  States,  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1846-48,  and  finally  a  prey 
to  the  cupidity  of  Napoleon  III,  ending  in  the  tragic  death  of  the  ill-fated 
Maximilian  at  Queretaro,  in  1877,  rescued  from  foreign  power  by  the, 
firmness  and  courage  of  Grant  and  Sheridan,  Mexico  fell  to  Diaz,  a  land 
of  brigands,  without  credit  abroad  or  confidence  at  home. 

In  our  own  time  we  have  seen  the  result.  Credit  has  been  estab- 
lished, a  standing  army  for  the  national  safeguard  maintained,  educa- 
tion fostered,  industry  encouraged,  revolution  suppressed,  protection  to 
life, and  property  assured,  and  confidence  restored  at  home  and  abroad 
by  the  natural  growth  which  has  come  from  continued  peace  and  the 
conservation  of  inherent  resources.  So  Russia  enjoyed  a  period  of 
recuperation  under  Michael  Romanoff. 

Wars  and  Rumors  of  Wars. 

The  condition  of  the  country  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  was  indeed 
critical.  A  large  portion  of  its  territory  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Swedes, 
at  that  time  an  important  power  in  Europe  under  the  sturdy  old  warrior 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  destined  to  pass  the  prime  of  his  life  in  the  long 
wars  which  for  thirty  years  rent  Europe,  in  the  struggle  between  Prot- 
estantism and  the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  Poles  were  pressing  the  empire  from  the  west  and  the  villages 
of  the  country  were  plundered  by  wandering  bands  of  Cossacks  from 


THE   ROMANOFFS.  173 

the  south.  Ladislaus,  the  King  of  Poland,  son  of  Sigismund,  had  not 
yet  renounced  the  title  of  Czar,  and,  in  1617,  four  years  after  Michael 
was  crowned,  appeared  with  an  invading  army  under  the  walls  of  Mos- 
cow, but  was  defeated  on  the  first  day  of  December,  1618,  and  consented 
to  abandon  his  claims  and  conclude  a  limited  peace  which  was  to  last 
fourteen  years  and  six  months. 

In  1617,  through  the  good  offices  of  James  I  of  England,  a  treaty  was 
concluded  with  Gustavus  Adolphus  at  Stolbovo,  a  town  near  Lake 
Ladoga,  by  which  the  Russians  had  been  compelled  to  give  up  a  large 
portion  of  territory,  along  the  Baltic,  to  the  Swedes,  including  the 
ancient  Novgorod,  but  this  peace  with  Sweden  proved  to  be  a  most 
fortunate  thing  for  Russia  because  Gustavus,  feeling  free  to  prosecute 
his  wars  in  Germany,  was  content  to  maintain  friendship  with  Russia 
and  the  Greek  Church,  against  a  common  enemy  hostile  to  both  Prot- 
estantism and  Russian  Orthodoxy. 

Michael's  Father  Made  Patriarch. 

By  the  peace  with  Poland  above  mentioned,  Philarete,  the  father  of 
Michael,  who  had  been  some  time  a  prisoner  at  Warsaw,  was  allowed 
to  return  to  Moscow,  and  in  1619  was  elected  Patriarch,  an  office  which 
had  been  for  some  time  vacant.  Young  Michael  now  associated  his 
father  with  himself  in  his  power  and  all  ukases  were  published  in  their 
joint  names.  The  Patriarch  held  a  separate  court  and  always  sat  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  sovereign.  Under  the  guidance  of  his  father,  a 
wise  and  experienced  political  ecclesiastic,  the  Emperor  was  now  able 
to  cope  with  powerful  nobles,  who  were  constantly  conspiring  at  home 
as  well  as  with  diplomats  sent  to  his  court  from  foreign  capitals. 

Thus  wisdom  marked  his  administration,  and  treaties  to  the  advan- 
tage of  Russia  were  made  with  France  and  England,  a  small  loan  of 
some  fifty  thousand  rubles  being  advanced  by  King  James,  to  relieve  the 
necessities  of  the  depleted  treasury  at  Moscow,  and  provide  pay  and 
munitions  for  the  army  which  was  necessary  for  defense,  against  the 
Poles  on  the  one  hand  and  for  the  suppression  of  the  Cossacks  on  the 
■other. 


174  THE    ROMANOFFS. 

The  country  swarmed  with  English  and  French  merchants  anxious 
to  obtain  concessions,  prominent  among  which  was  the  right  to  trade 
with  India  by  the  way  of  Obi  and  to  have  a  road  for  free  commerce 
opened  to  Persia  by  way  of  the  Volga. 

The  Successful  Reign  of  Alexis. 

Michael  died  in  1645  ^"d  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Alexis.  Although 
the  reign  of  this  sovereign  was  long,  lasting  for  thirty-one  years,  it  was 
not  brilliant  in  a  military  sense,  although  it  proved  so  humane,  sagacious 
and  successful  that  he  is  often  called,  in  Russian  annals,  "The  Father  of 
his   Country." 

He  made  a  new  codification  of  the  laws  which  was  based  on  the 
preceding  code  of  Ivan  III.  This  was  accomplished  by  a  royal  commis- 
sion, composed  of  ecclesiastical  and  lay  members,  appointed  to  examine 
existing  laws  and  make  any  necessary  additions,  or  to  adopt  to  the 
present  needs  any  which  had  become  obsolete. 

They  did  the  work  very  promptly  as  compared  with  Congressional 
commissions  to  which  we  are  accustomed  nowadays,  finishing  their  task 
in  two  months  and  a  half.  This  original  code  is  still  preserved  at  Mos- 
cow, and  it  is  worthy  of  notice  in  that  it  recognized  the  equality  of  all 
men  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  and  thus  anticipated  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple which  was  not  generally  acknowledged  in  Western  Europe  until 
the  following  century. 

We  are  told  that  Alexis  allowed  access  to  all  petitioners  at  his 
favorite  village.  He  caused  a  box  to  be  placed  opposite  his  bed-room 
window,  and  as  soon  as  the  Czar  arose  in  the  morning  and  appeared  at 
the  window  the  suppliants  came  forward  with  their  complaints  and 
placed  them  in  the  box,  which  was  afterward  taken  to  him. 

The  Empire  Extended. 

One  of  the  chief  events  of  his  reign  was  the  incorporation  of  the 
Ukraine  and  the  country  of  the  Cossacks  with  Russia.  This  addition 
to  his  dominions  came  about  indirectly  through  the  condition  of  anarchy 
which  existed  in  Poland.     A  long  struggle  had  been  going  on  for  the 


THE   ROMANOFFS.  i^c 

possession  of  South  Russia,  between  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  and  the  King  of  Poland,  with  the  result  that  the 
region  was  in  constant  distress  and  turmoil  over  the  warring  forces. 

Finally  the  Christians  appealed  to  the  Czar  as  the  head  of  the 
Orthodox  Church  and  he,  finding  an  excuse  to  break  the  peace  with 
Poland,  in  1654,  solemnly  announced  that  he  had  decided  to  march  in 
person  against  his  enemy.  He  commanded  that  in  this  campaign  no 
occasion  should  be  given  for  the  generals  to  dispute  for  precedence. 
He  conducted  the  war  with  such  humanity,  and  so  well  timed  the 
deliverance,  that  these  circumstances  greatly  contributed  to  Muscovite 
success. 

Many  towns  of  White  Russia  opened  their  gates  to  him,  Smolensk 
alone  resisting,  but  at  the  end  of  five  weeks  made  an  easy  capitulation. 
Wilna,  Grodno  and  Kodno  fell  successively,  and  the  Muscovites  invaded 
Southern  Poland  and  took  Lublin. 

All  the  East  resounded  with  the  Russian  victories,  and  Wallachia 
and  Moldavia  implored  Alexis  to  take  them  under  his  protection,'  Poland 
was  pressed  on  every  hand,  and  Charles  X,  King  of  Sweden,  arrived 
and  captured  Posen,  Warsaw  and  Kracow. 

The  Swedish  monarch,  swelled  with  ambition,  even  threatened  the 
Russian  conquests  and  claimed  Lithuania.  The  Czar  feared  that  he 
had  only  shaken  Poland  to  strengthen  Sweden,  and  hastened  to  nego- 
tiate with  the  Poles  who  promised  to  elect  him  after  the  death  of  their 
present  king.  Then  he  turned  his  arms  against  Sweden  and  attacked 
the  Baltic  provinces.  After  some  preliminary  successes,  however,  the 
campaign  languished,  and  Alexis  made  a  truce  which  finally  resulted  in 
the  peace  of  Cardis  in  1651,  by  means  of  which  Russia  abandoned 
Livonia. 

Internal  Dissensions. 

New  troubles  ensued,  however,  and  the  war  soon  recommenced,  but 
the  Russians  were  unsuccessful  at  every  point,  and  having  no  longer 
money  to  pay  the  army  resorted  to  a  debased  currency,  which  led  to 
financial  troubles  and  commercial  distress.  Riots  broke  out  in  Moscow 
against  the  Czar's  chief  adviser,  who  was  a  kinsman  of  the  Czarina,  and 


176  THE   ROMANOFFS. 

troubles  galore  surrouiided  the  sovereign.  Troops  were  obliged  to  fire 
upon  the  rebels  to  put  down  tlie  uprising,  and  several  thotisand  of  them 
were  killed  before  quiet  was  restored. 

There  was  a  general  reaction  against  Polish  influence,  and  the 
alliance  which  the  Russians  had  made  with  Poland,  by  which  Smolensk 
and  Kief  and  Little  Russia  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper  had  been 
secured,  failed  to  cement  a.  friendship  between  the  two  countries,  al- 
though the  series  of  petty  wars,  which  marked  the  reign,  finally  resulted 
through  the  treaty  of  Lublin,  in  1569,,  by  which  Russia  obtained  a  large 
sUce  of  the  disputed  territory.  Those  interested  in  the  disturbances  of 
this  time  will  find  it  necessary,  for  complete  information,  to  turn  to  a 
history  of  Poland  and  Sweden  under  Gustavus  Adolphus,  but  the  limits 
of  this  work  will  not  permit  us  to  cover  all  this  ground. 

Accepting  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  hostihties  between  Russia 
and  Poland,  the  Cossacks  rose  in  rebellion,  but,  after  devastating  a  large 
section  in  the  valley  of  the  Volga  during  a  period  of  three  years,.  Alexis 
defeated  their  chief  and  pardoned  him,^  upon  his  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance.  Another  rebellion,  however,  broke  out  headed  by  the  same 
refractory  Cossack  chief  who  raised  an  army  of  200,00a  men.  Having 
violated  his  oath,  he  again  proclaimed  himself  an  enemy  of  the  nobles 
and  the  restorer  of  liberty  to  the  people.  Astrakhan  surrendered  to  him 
and  he  ruled  from  Nijini-Novgorod  to  Kazan.  He  was,  however,  simply 
a  vulgar  robber,,  and  his  atrocities  disgusted  the  more  respectable  of  his 
adherents  who  gradually  dispersed,  and  in  1671  he  was  captured,  taken 
to  Moscow  L-.l  executed. 

The  People  Reject  CiviUzation. 

Alexis  died  in  1676  in  the  48th  year  of  his  age.  During  his  reign  he 
had  attempted  to  promote  learning  and  the  arts,  but  his  efforts  to  intro- 
duce into  Russia  the  customs  of  more  enlightened  nations  met  with  but 
slight  success. 

Russia  had  been  Asiatic  under  the  Ruriks  and,  when  the  first  Ro^ 
manoffs  tried  to  make  it  European,  progress  was  slow.  The  people 
who  were  grossly  ignorant  were  wedded  to  the  old  customs  and  super- 


THE    ROMANOFFS.  I77 

stitions.     It  required  the  strong  hand  and  master  mind  of  Peter  the 
Great,  who  came  later,  to  civilize  them. 

Feodor  III,  the  son  of  Alexis,  succeeded  him,  coming  to  the  throne 
at  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  was  a  prince  weak  in  body  but  of  strong 
intellect,  and  instituted  many  reforms,  which,  however,  he  did  not  live 
to  see  consummated.  His  aim  was  internal  improvement  rather  than 
the  conquest  of  new  territory.  He  tried  to  check  the  pride  of  nobles 
which  had  become  insufferable,  the  family jivhich  could  show  the  longest 
pedigree  being  the  most  arrogant. 

Old  Customs  Abolished. 

The  new  Czar,  under  the  pretense  of  correcting  certain  errors  in 
these  records,  ordered  them  to  be  brought  to  court.  He  then  called 
together  an  assembly  of  the  highest  civic  and  clerical  dignitaries  of  the 
empire,  and  in  an  eloquent  address  set  forth  the  dissensions  which  he 
declared  were  caused  by  these  records.  He  advised  that  they  be  burned, 
after  having  the  names  and  dignities  of  the  noble  families  inscribed  in 
a  new  set  of  books  opened  for  that  purpose.  He  carried  his  point  and 
assent  was  given  to  the  proposition.  The  records,  being  heaped  up  in 
the  courtyard  of  the  palace,  were  set  on  fire  and  with  them  perished  the 
assumptions  of  the  old  nobility  of  Russia. 

He  also  abolished  the  old  custom  of  choosing  a  wife  for  the  czar. 
Heretofore,  in  accordance  with  Oriental  custom,  the  Czar  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  selecting  his  consort  from  among  his  own  people.  On  an 
appointed  day  the  daughters  of  the  noble  families  were  invited  to  the 
imperial  palace,  in  order  that  the  Czar  might  choose  a  wife  from  among 
them.  They  came  in  the  most  gorgeous  apparel,  attended  by  the  heads 
of  their  families,  and  were  entertained  with  great  festivities  lasting  often 
for  several  days  together. 

During  this  time  the  prince  critically  and  attentively  observed  the 
young  ladies  and  finally,  having  made  his  choice,  he  seated  himself  at 
the  banquet  table  with  his  young  guests,  and  there  presented  to  the  one 
he  had  chosen  a  handkerchief  and  a  ring,  dismissing  the  rest  with  gifts. 
His  choice  was  then  declared  in  public,  the  future  Czarina  receiving  the 


178  THE   ROMANOFFS. 

crown  as  princess.  Alexis  had  chosen  two  wives  in  this  manner.  The 
result  of  this  system  was  dissatisfaction  and  dissension  among  the  nobil- 
ity, and,  not  infrequently,  ended  with  the  poisoning  of  the  successful 
candidate. 

Chooses  a  Foreign  Wife. 

Feodor,  having  witnessed  the  bitter  feuds  w^hich  arose  from  this 
custom  in  his  father's  time,  resolved  to  choose  a  wife  from  another 
nation.  As  he  had  already  formed  an  ardent  attachment  to  a  Polish 
lady,  inclination  as  well  as  politics  led  him  to  this  decision.  The  clericals 
were  violently  opposed  to  the  innovation.  In  spite  of  the  anathemas 
of  the  church,  however,  the  young  Czar  married  the  lady  of  his  choice. 

After  a  reign  of  six  years  he  died,  leaving  no  heir,  but  he  had  six 
sisters  and  one  brother.  This  brother,  however,  being  an  imbecile, 
Feodor  had  chosen  before  his  death  his  half-brother  Peter,  the  son  of 
his  father  by  his  second  wife,  Natalia,  to  be  his  successor,  and  thus 
we  come  to  the  great  page  in  Russian  history  covered  by  the  reign  of 
Peter  the  Great,  which  began  in  1689  ^^^^  lasted  till  1725. 

Peter  was  not  allowed  to  come  to  the  throne  peaceably,  for  the 
family  of  the  first  wife  of  his  father  resolved,  if  possible,  to  retain  the 
succession.  Sophia,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Alexis,  sister  of  the  late 
Czar,  was  a  princess  of  great  beauty  and  talent,  united  with  courage 
equal  to  any  emergency,  and  she  contested  the  crown,  first  in  the  name 
of  her  idiot  brother  and  then  in  her  own.  The  family  of  the  second 
wife  were  equally  active  in  pressing  the  claims  of  Peter,  then  a  boy  ten 
years  old. 

Peter  Narrowly  Escapes  Death. 

Sophia  finally  gained  over  the  support  of  the  National  Guard  and 
turned  them  loose  on  Peter's  adherents.  A  carnage  of  three  days  en- 
sued, during  which  two  of  Peter's  uncles,  brothers  of  his  mother,  and 
sixty  of  their  kindred  were  put  to  death.  Natalia,  Peter's  mother,  who- 
still  survived,  fled  from  the  capital,  taking  with  her  her  son.  It  is  said 
that  for  over  fifty  miles  she  carried  him  in  her  arms,  the  guard  following 
c!ose  upon  her  path,  determined  to  put  her  and  her  son  to  the  sword- 


•      THE    ROMANOFFS.  179 

She  finally  sought  refuge  in  the  convent  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  having 
barely  time  to  reach  the  altar  and  place  her  child  upon  it  when  the  mur- 
derous horde  entered.  One  of  them  seized  the  boy  and  was  about  to  cut 
off  his  head,  when  the  sounds  of  approaching  horsemen  were  heard  out- 
side, and  the  frightened  ruffians  fled  and  Peter  the  Great  was  preserved 
to  Russia. 

In  the  meantime  Ivan  was  declared  sovereign,  but,  idiotic  as  he  was, 
he  knew  that  he  was  unfit  for  the  crown  and  requested  that  Peter  might 
be  associated  with  him. 

This  request  was  granted  and  the  young  princes  were  declared  joint 
sovereigns,  with  Sophia  as  Regent  during  the  minority.  During  the 
regency  an  expedition  was  undertaken  against  the  Mongols  in  the 
Crimea,  but  little  was  accomplished. 

Peter's  First  Marriage  Unhappy. 

In  1689  Peter  married  a  lady  named  Eudoxia  Lopukhina,  but  the 
union  was  by  no  means  a  happy  one.  Two  sons  were  born  to  Peter, 
Alexander  and  Alexis.  The  first  lived  only  six  months,  but  the  latter 
survived  to  make  a  sorry  figure  in  Russian  history.  The  friends  and 
adherents  of  Peter  had  occasion  to  come  to  his  support  to  put  down  a 
revolt  of  the  Guards,  which,  it  was  alleged,  was  the  result  of  a  con- 
spiracy to  secure  his  assassination.  Sophia,  suspected  of  guilt  in  this 
matter,  was  seized  and  permanently  incarcerated  in  a  convent  under 
the  name  of  Susanna,  where  she  remained  until  her  death,  fifteen  years 
later.  From  the  year  1689,  seven  years  after  the  death  of  his  brother, 
who  had  designated  him  as  his  heir  to  the  throne,  the  actual  rule  of 
Peter  dates. 

His  brother  Ivan,  infirm  in  body  and  mind,  from  this  time  forward 
had  practically  no  share  in  the  affairs  of  government.  In  spite  of  his 
infirmities,  however,  he  took  a  wife  and  had  three  daughters,  one  of  whom 
lived  to  make  her  mark  in  Russian  history.  After  a  retired  life  of  several 
3'ears,  Ivan  died,  in  1696,  at  the  age  of  30. 


igo  THE   ROMANOFFS. 

The  Far-Reaching  Object  of  the  Czar. 

The  new  Czar  inaugurated  a  policy  which  has  marked  the  course  of 
the  Russian  Empire  from  his  day  to  the  present  time.  This  policy  aimed 
to  free  Russia  from  confinement  as  a  land-locked  empire,  and  to  give 
her  seaports  on  unfrozen  waters.  This  great  object  to  seek  ports,  un- 
blocked by  ice,  was  the  cornerstone  of  his  administration,  and  he  left 
the  idea  as  a  heritage  to  his  successors. 

During  these  early  years,  while  Sophia  was  Regent,  Peter  had  done 
much  to  acquaint  himself  with  conditions  in  foreign  countries  by  travel — 
making  observations  which  afterward  appeared  to  have  broadened  his 
character  and  to  have  given  him  a  comprehension  of  the  necessities  far 
beyond  other  Russians  of  his  time.  He  went  to  Amsterdam  and  worked 
in  a  shipyard,  and  to  the  village  of  Zaandam  in  Holland,  where  he  caused 
himself  to  be  enrolled  among  the  workmen.  He  lived  here  for  two 
months  in  a  hut,  making  his  own  bed  and  preparing  his  own  food,  all 
the  while  corresponding  with  his  Ministers  at  home  and  laboring  at  the 
same  time  at  shipbuilding. 

He  accepted  an  invitation  from  William  HI  to  visit  London,  and 
spent  several  weeks  there,  keenly  observing  everything  about  him,  and 
learning  all  he  could  of  trade,  manufactures  and  the  arts.  He  then 
proceeded  to  Vienna,  but,  receiving  there  intelligence  of  a  new  rebellion 
by  the  Guards,  he  returned  home  and  crushed  the  insurrection,  visiting 
the  rebels  with  fearful  punishment.  This  episode  occurred  after  he  had 
practically  come  to  the  supreme  power. 

Many  Reforms  Introduced  into  Russia. 

In  1700  he  entered  upon  war  with  Sweden  which  lasted  for  twenty- 
one  years.  This  long  struggle,  with  its  series  of  victories  and  defeats, 
trials  and  triumphs,  would  make  a  book  of  itself.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
he  was  defeated  by  his  great  rival,  Charles  XII,  at  the  battle  of  Narva, 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  which  proceeded  with  various  results  until 
1709,  when  he  completely  routed  Charles  at  the  decisive  battle  of  Pul- 
towa.    In  the  following  year  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  declared  war  on  him, 


THE    ROMANOFFS.  i8i 

and  he  narrowsly  escaped  capture  in  the  campaign  of  171 1.     Tliis  war 
ended  in  1713. 

Peter  was  the  first  Czar  to  consolidate  within  himself  not  only  the 
political  power  but  the  primacy  of  the  church.  He  suppressed  the 
Patriarchate,  which  had  been  so  prominent  under  the'  first  Romanofif, 
and  assumed  the  dignity  himself.  Henceforth  the  Czar  of  Russia  became 
also  the  head  of  the  church  of  the  Orthodox  faith  of  the  empire. 

In  1703  he  founded  St.  Petersburg  and  began  the  fortifications  of 
Cronstadt,  and  from  this  time  to  the  present  the  capital  of  Russia  has 
remained  in  the  great  city  on  the  Neva,  built  by  him  and  which  bears 
his  name. 

The  Complex  Character  of  Peter  the  Great. 

Three  years  later  he  married  Catherine,  a  girl  of  lowly  origin  and 
immoral  character,  of  whom  more  will  be  said  later.  She  was  acknowl- 
edged publicly  in  1710  and  he  caused  her  to  be  crowned  in  1722. 

Peter  extended  the  limits  of  the  empire  both  in  Europe  and  Asia. 
He  changed  the  face  of  Russia  by  his  zealous  promotion  of  trade  and 
navigation,  manufactures  and  education ;  effected  an  immense  change 
in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Russians,  and  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace  with  Sweden  received  the  title  of  "Emperor  of  all  the  Russias 
and  Father  of  his  Country." 

It  has  been  said  of  him  that,  while  able  to  reform  others,  he  never 
could  reform  himself,  but  remained  to  the  last  an  ignorant,  coarse,  brutal 
savage,  indulging  in  the  lowest  vices,  gloatjng  over  scenes  of  cruel 
suffering.  He  sometimes  put  his  victims  to  torture,  played  judge  and 
executioner,  and  in  a  drunken  fit  would  strike  off  the  heads  of  twenty 
people  in  succession,  to  prove  his  dexterity  with  the  sword. 

He  died  at  St.  Petersburg,  January  28,  1725,  one  of  the  greatest,  the 
most  remarkable,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  best  and  the  worst  men 
who  have  adorned  and  blotted  the  history  of  Russia.  The  history  of 
no  other  country  presents  such  a  character.  Mingling  tlie  elements  of 
good  and  bad,  he  might  well  have  been  the  original  of  the  modern  crea- 
tion of  that  genius  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  "Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr. 
Hyde." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES 

Catherine  I  Ascends  the  Throne — Her  Humble  Origin — ^Menzikoflf,  Her  Prime  Minister — 
The  Brief  Reign  of  Peter  II — Anna  of  Courland  Becomes  Czarina — Elizabeth,  Daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great,  Crowned  Empress — Peter  III,  Elizabeth's  Nephew,  Made  Czar — 
His  Consort,  Catherine,  Called  "The  Great,"  Succeeds  Him — Her  Bloodthirsty  and 
Tyrannical  Career — Her  Immoral  Character — The  Orloffs — Russian  Empire  Extended 
— Catherine's  Friendship  for  America — Her  Death. 

THE  history  of  Russia  is  exceedingly  rich  in  dramatic  characters. 
The  story  of  no  country  is  better  stocked  with  material  for  the 
novelist  and  the  playwright.  In  fact,  there  is  an  abundance  of  such 
literature,  but,  unfortunately,  it  is  chiefly  written  in  a  language  almost 
invariably  ignored  in  the  educational  institutions  of  the  English-speaking 
races  and  therefore  is  a  sealed  book.  Take,  for  example,  the  career  of 
Catherine  I,  which  we  are  about  to  consider. 

A  Peasant's  Daughter  Becomes  Empress. 

This  woman  not  only  came  from  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  but  was 
even  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  a  peasant  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic, 
and  yet  she  wore  the  crown  of  Russia,  and,  although  her  end  was  as 
ignoble  and  humiliating  to  the  history  of  her  sex  as  her  beginning,  yet 
for  the  most  part  her  career  compels  the  conclusion  that  she  was  no 
common  person. 

Her  entrance  into  the  political  life  of  Russia  was  purely  accidental. 
In  one  of  Peter's  campaigns  against  Charles  XII,  among  the  prisoners 
of  war  was  a  Livonian  peasant  girl,  seventeen  years  old.  She  came  to 
one  of  his  generals  weeping  for  the  loss  of  her  husband,  to  whom  she 
had  been  married  only  the  day  before.  It  is  said  that  the  general 
fancied  her  and  took  her  for  a  mistress,  but  Peter,  seeing  her,  also 
liked  her  looks  and  claimed  her  for  himself. 

182  '    . 


THE  RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES.  183 

As  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter,  he  first  privately  married  her 
and  afterwards  publicly  acknowledged  her  as  his  wife,  causing  her  to 
be  baptized  into  the  Greek  Church,  when  her  name  was  changed  from 
Marpha  to  Catherine,  and  as  such  she  is  known  in  history. 

This  young  woman,  if  we  may  believe  the  testimony  of  people  who 
knew  her,  and  which  has  come  down  to  us  in  abundance,  was  no  beauty, 
but  the  claim  that  she  had  no  talent  cannot  be' well  founded. 

Catherine  a  Devoted  Wife. 

At  any  rate  it  is  clear  that  when  Peter  first  met  her  in  the  bloom 
of  her  youth  she  was  graceful  in  person  and  pleasing  in  manner.  She 
hkewise  was  amply  endowed  with  common  sense  and  a  remarkably 
sweet  temper.  She  managed  to  make  herself  the  complete  master  of 
the  colossal  bear  to  whom  she  was  married.  She  alone  could  quiet  the 
Czar  in  those  violent  frenzies  of  passion  to  which  he  was  subject  and 
in  the  presence  of  which  all  others  quailed. 

Her  devotion  to  Peter  was  boundless.  She  accompanied  him  every- 
where, even  on  his  campaigns,  and  was  ever  present  in  his  camps  and 
even  on  the  field  of  battle.  Her  courage  was  never  shaken,  and  in  the 
hour  of  Russia's  greatest  reverses  she  did  not  falter,  so  that  at  times 
her  hopeful  courage  perhaps  saved  the  Czar  and  the  empire  from  ruin. 

Some  nineteen  years  after  Peter's  return  from  his  first  journeyings, 
he  again  set  out  on  a  tour  through  the  other  countries  of  Europe,  and 
he  took  his  wife  with  him.  He  never  seems  to  have  been  ashamed  of 
Jier,  but  he  would  not  take  her  to  the  Court  of  France,  not  wishing,  it 
is  believed,  to  subject  her  to  the  ridicule  and  criticisms  of  the  most 
frivolous  capitol  in  Europe.  He  therefore  left  her  in  Holland  when  he 
went  to  Paris. 

The  Czar  went  everywhere  in  his  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge, 
speaking  as  he  did  all  the  languages  of  Europe,  and  was  received  at  the 
various  courts  in  a  manner  befitting  his  station,  for  it  is  said  of  him  that, 
uncouth  savage  as  he  was,  he  could  at  times  assume  the  bearing  of  a 
polished  courtier.  He  was  not  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  etiquette,  but 
^usually  refused  to  be  handled  by  the  modes  of  polite  society. 


i84  THE   RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES. 

A  German  Princess  Criticises  the  Royal  Couple. 

On  this  journey  he  went  to  Berlin  to  visit  Frederick  of  Prussia  and, 
as  usual,  'Catherine  went  with  him.  Frederick,  being  possessed  of  the 
same  contempt  for  vanity  and  luxury  which  was  so  marked  in  Peter, 
found  in  the  Czar  a  congenial  companion,  but  the  Prussian  Queen  and 
the  Princesses  seemed  to  have  regarded  Catherine  as  quite  an  "impos- 
sible woman." 

Some  letters;  written  by  the  Princess  Wilhelmina,  have  come  down 
to  us,  in  which  she  handles  the  royal  couple  from  Russia  without  gloves. 

The  young  Princess  writes:  "When  Peter  approached  to  embrace 
my  mother.  Her  Majesty  looked  as  if  she  would  rather  be  excused.  The 
Czar  is  tall  and  well  made ;  his  face  is  handsome ;  but  there  is  in  it  a 
rudeness  which  inspires  dread.  He  was  dressed  like  a  sailor  in  a  frock 
without  lace  or  ornaments.  The  Czarina  is  short  and  lusty,  remarkably 
coarse  and  without  grace  or  animation.  One  need  only  see  her  to 
become  satisfied  of  her  ignoble  birth. 

"At  the  first  blush  you  would  take  her  for  a  German  actress.  Her 
clothes  look  as  if  bought  at  a  doll  shop,  everything  is  so  old-fashioned, 
and  so  bedecked  with  silver  tinsel.  She  was  decorated  with  a  dozen 
orders  and  portraits  of  saints  and  relics,  which  occasioned  such  a  clatter 
when  she  walked  you  would  suppose  an  ass  with  bells  was  approach- 
ing." 

Peter's  Last  Thought. 

Still  the  Princess  Wilhelmina  must  have  known  that  there  was  some- 
thing about  this  woman  worthy  of  more  serious  consideration,  when  she 
was  the  acknowledged  wife  of  a  man  who  might  have  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  highest  princess  of  Europe,  but  who  was  always  content  with 
the  woman  of  his  choice. 

In  fact,  ever  anxious  to  exalt  her  dignity,  he  founded  the  Order  of 
St.  Catherine  in  her  honor,  and  when  at  last  he  came  to  his  death-bed, 
as  the  result  of  obstinate  exposure  in  the  work  of  rescuing  a  boat  which 
had  been  thrown  upon  the  rocks,  his  last  thought  was  for  her. 

When  too  weak  to  speak,  in  the  death  grip  of  pneumonia,  he  signalled 


THE  RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES.  185 

for  a  pen  and  in  trembling-  hand  wrote  these  words,  "Let  everything  be 

given  to ". 

The  sentence  was  never  finished,  but  Catherine  and  her  party  de- 
clared that  it  had  been  the  Czar's  intention  to  leave  the  throne  to  his 
wife,  if  she  survived  him,  and  that  his  dying  effort  had  been  to  put  this 
fiat  on  record.  It  was  ^  rather  slender  title  with  which  to  bring  a 
peasant  woman  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  but  like  "Mercutio's  wound," 
it  was  enough. 

Catherine  Seizes  the  Throne. 

The  only  son  of  Peter's  second  marriage  having  died  in  childhood, 
he  left  only  daughters,  and  it  was  supposed  by  many  that  the  crown 
would  settle  upon  his  favorite  child,  Anna  Petrowna,  a  beautiful  and 
amiable  young  princess,  but  however  it  may  be,  Peter  being  dead, 
Catherine  willed  otherwise,  and  with  the  aid  of  lier  favorite,  Menzikoff, 
she  seized  the  throne. 

Catherine  I  reigned  only  two  years  and  it  would  have  been  better 
for  her  fame  if  she  had  not  reigned  at  all.  Menzikoff,  her  Prime  Min- 
ister, was  of  equally  ignoble  origin  with  herself.  It  is  said  that  in  his 
boyhood  he  was  the  servant  of  a  pastry  cook  who  sold  cakes  about  the 
streets  of  Moscow.  However,  although  ignorant  of  letters,  Peter  had 
invested  him  with  the  highest  dignities  of  State,  and  now  it  so  hap- 
pened that  the  affairs  of  the  empire  were  left  in  the  keeping  of  two 
persons  who  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

The  haughty  old  nobility  could  not  reconcile  its  traditional  ideas 
of  the  throne,  and  what  it  ought  to  be,  with  the  sway  of  two  such  low- 
born ritlers.  Menzikoff  seems  neither  to  have  cared  for  their  scorn  nor 
feared  their  hatred,  but  the  contempt,  ridicule  and  continual  opposition, 
which  relentlessly  pursued  Catherine,  sank  deep  into  her  soul  and  broke 
her  heart.  She  sought  solace  in  dissipation,  and  the  virtues  which  had. 
distinguished  her  during  Peter's  lifetime  seem  to  have  deserted  her. 

Although  her  humane  disposition  deterred  her  from  acts  of  violence 
and  cruelty,  she  fell  into  habits  of  drunkenness  which  shortened  her 
days,  and  she  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight. 


_-i86  THE   RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES. 

Contemporary  Sovereigns. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  the  contemporary  sovereigns  who  were 
ruling  at  the  time  of  the  close  of  Catherine's  career,  in  1727.  Achmed 
III  was  Sultan  of  Turkey,  Benedict  XIII  was  Pope,  Philip  V  King  of 
Spain,  Louis  XV  King  of  France,  John  V  King  of  Portugal,  Frederick 
William  King  of  Prussia,  Charles  Albert  of  Bavaria,  Charles  VI  of 
■Germany,  Victor  Amadeus  of  Sardinia,  Jivonnia  Gastone  of  Tuscany, 
Frederick  IV  of  Denmark,  Frederick  of  Sweden,  Frederick  Augustus  I 
of  Poland  and  George  I  of  England,  the  latter  dying  in  June  of  that  year. 

Catherine  Names  Her  Successor. 

At  this  time  the  country  was  divided  into  factions  with  the  old 
reactionary  party,  the  Galitzins,  Dolgorukis,  and  other  ancient  families 
struggling  to  controlthe  throne.  Catherine,  however,  by  her  will,  named 
Peter,  the  grandson  of  her  husband,  as  her  heir  to  the  crown.  He  was 
a  lad  of  eleven  years,  the  son  of  Alexis,  by  Peter  the  Great's  first  mar- 
riage with  a  woman  whom  he  had  always  hated. 

This  Alexis  had  been  brought  up  in  opposition  to  his  father,  having 
imbibed  the  spirits  of  opposition  from  his  mother.  When  he  grew  to 
manhood  that  feeling  broke  out  in  open  revolt  and  he  was  tried  for 
treason  and  sentenced  to  death.  Immediately  after,  he  died  suddenly 
from  poison,  and  few  doubt  that  his  end  had  been  brought  about  at  the 
instigation  of  his  father. 

It  was  not  without  some  justice,  therefore,  that  Catherine  designated 
his  son  as  her  successor,  naming,  in  default  of  Peter  and  his  issue,  her 
•daughter  Anna,  who  had  married  the  Duke  of  Holstein,  and  her  other 
daughter  Elizabeth,  in  succession.  The  country  was  ruled  by  a  regency, 
exercised  by  a  council,  consisting  of  the  two  daughters,  the  Duke  of 
Holstein,  MenzikofT  and  seven  or  eight  other  dignitaries  of  the  empire. 
Menzikofif  still  continued  to  be  the  all-important  personage,  and,  before 
Catherine's  death,  had  obtained  her  consent  to  a  marriage  between  his 
-daughter  and  the  youthful  Peter  II,  who  was  to  be  her  heir. 

But  his  authority  was  gradually  undermined  by  the  Dolgorukis  and 


THE  RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES.  187 

Tie  was  first  banished  to  his  estates,  and  afterward  to  Berzeoff  in  Siberia, 
where  he  died  in  1729.  The  Dolgorukis  were  now  in  the  ascendancy 
and  the  Czar  was  betrothed  to  Natalia,  one  of  this  family.  He  showed 
€very  inclination  to  undo  his  grandfather's  work,  and  the  court  was 
removed  to  Moscow  to  the  disparagement  of  St.  Petersburg.  Soon 
after,  however,  in  January,  1730,  the  young  prince  was  seized  with 
smallpox  and  died. 

Anna  of  Courland  Called  to  the  Throne. 

The  only  event  of  his  reign,  so  far  as  the  outside  world  was  con- 
cerned, was  the  attempt  of  Maurice,  Duke  of  Saxony,  to  get  possession 
of  Courland,  a  Russian  province,  by  marrying  the  Duchess  Anna,  who 
was  then  a  widow.  She  consented  to  the  union,  and  the  States  of  the 
province  elected  him,  but  Menzikoff  sent  a  body  of  troops  who  drove 
3iim  out.  Upon  the  death  of  Peter  H,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  various 
claimants  were  put  forward  for  the  throne. 

The  two  daughters  of  Peter  the  Great,  Anna,  Duchess  of  Holstein, 
and  Elizabeth  were  still  living.  Two  daughters  of  his  elder  brother,  the 
imbecile  Ivan,  were  also  living,  Anna,  the  Duchess  of  Courland  above 
mentioned,  and  Catherine  who  had  become  Duchess  of  Mecklenburg. 
.Alexis  Dolgoruki  also  had  an  idea  of  obtaining  the  crown  for  his  daugh- 
ter Natalia,  because  she  had  been  the  betrothed  of  the  late  Czar. 

This  claim,  however,  was  treated  with  derision  by  the  high  secret 
council,  which  resolved  to  call  to  the  throne  Anna  of  Courland,  the  niece 
of  Peter  the  Great,  thinking  that  as  she  was  so  much  more  remote  by 
l)irth  than  the  daughters  of  Peter  she  would  more  willingly  submit  to 
their  terms.  They  had  prepared  for  her  signature  a  constitution  similar 
to  that  of  Poland. 

Empress  by  Act  of  the  High  Council. 

This  constitution  provided  that  the  High  Council  was  always  to  be 
composed  of  eiglit  persons,  whose  members  were  to  be  chosen,  in  case 
of  vacancy,  with  the  consent  of  the  rest  of  the  body,  and  that  the 
Czarina  must  consult  it  on  state  affairs.  Second,  without  its  consent, 
she  could  neither  make  peace  nor  declare  war,  could  not  impose  any 


i88  THE  RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES. 

tax,  alienate  any  crown  lands,  or  appoint  to  any  office  above  that  of  a 
colonel.  She  could  not  cause  to  be  condemned  or  executed  any  member 
of  the  nobility,  nor  confiscate  the  goods  of  any  noble  before  he  had  a 
regular  trial.  She  could  not  marry  nor  choose  a  successor  without  the 
consent  of  the  Council.  In  case  she  broke  any  of  these  stipulations  she 
was  to  forfeit  the  crown. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  constitution  resembled  in  many  points 
the  provisions  of  the  Great  Charter  of  England  which  the  barons  had 
forced  upon  King  John  at  Runnymede.  In  some  points  also  it  re- 
sembled the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  giving  some  powers  ta 
the  Great  Council  now  lodged  in  the  Senate.  Anna  assented  to  these 
terms,  but  much  against  her  will,  as  events  soon  demonstrated. 

She  made  her  entry  into  Moscow,  which  was  to  be  her  capital,  and 
immediately  began  to  intrigue  for  her  independence  of  the  hated  con- 
stitution, which  became  unpopular  with  the  people  because  it  in  reality 
put  Russia  in  the  hands  of  a  few  powerful  families,  chiefly  the  Dolgorukis 
and  Galitzins.  She  therefore  called  her  supporters  together  and  publicly 
tore  up  the  document  and  threw  its  fragments  to  the  winds. 

Thus  ended  the  last  constitution  which  Russia  has  known,  although 
the  adoption  of  another  organic  instrument  has  been  frequently  dis- 
cussed, and  it  is  believed  that,  at  the  very  moment  when  Alexander  II 
fell  a  victim  to  the  bomb  thrown  by  a  Nihilist,  he  had  decided  to  pro- 
mulgate a  charter  based  upon  modern  constitutions  in  force  under 
liberal  governments. 

A  Tool  in  the  Hands  of  the  Germans. 

Anna  was  a  cold,  repulsive  woman,  whose  temper  it  was  said  had 
been  soured  by  tKe  indignities  suffered  in  her  youth,  and  she  promptly 
proceeded  to  take  vengeance  upon  her  opponents  right  and  left.  She 
threw  herself  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  her  chief  adviser 
being  a  man  named  Biren,  a  native  of  Courland,  and  of  low  origin. 

She  banished  the  Russian  nobles  from  her  court,  sending  some  to 
Siberia,  while  others  were  executed.  She  went  so  far  in  the  humiliation 
of  the  noble  families  as  to  abolish  the  right  of  primogeniture.    She  made 


THE   RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES.  189 

herself  felt  in  the  politics  of  Poland,  and  interfered  in  the  succession 
upon  a  vacancy  occurring  on  the  Polish  throne.  She  opposed  the  acces- 
sion of  Stanislaus,  who  escaped  with  difficulty  from  Dantzic. 

Then  she  had  a  war  with  Turkey,  in  conjunction  with  Austria,  which 
fasted  four  years,  from  1735  to  1739.  This  campaign  was  not  very 
successful,  but  the  Russian  generals  gained  the  possession  of  a  few 
towns,  when  Anna  was  deserted  by  Austria,  who  signed  the  treaty  of 
Belgrade  with  the  Turks  and  put  the  campaign  to  an  end. 

She  died  in  1740,  after  a  reign  of  exactly  ten  years,  and  left  the  crown 
to  Ivan,  the  son  of  her  niece  Anna,  daughter  of  her  sister  Catherine,  the 
Duchess  of  Mechlenburg. 

During  his  minority,  Biren  was  to  be  regent.  A  revolt  ensued 
against  the  German  adventurer  and  he  was  deposed  and  sent  to  exile 
in  Siberia.  Matters  did  not  rest  here,  however,  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  general  unpopularity  of  the  German  faction,  the  adherents  of 
Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  resolved  to  place  her  upon 
the  throne.  The  infant  sovereign  was  deposed  and  placed  in  close 
confinement,  where  he  passed  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Peter  the  Great's  Daughter  is  Crowned. 

Elizabeth  was  then,  in  1741,  crowned  Empress  and  ruled  for  twenty 
years.  She  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great  and  had 
inherited,  apparently,  all  his  worst  traits  and  few  of  his  redeeming  char- 
acteristics. She  began  her  reign  by  ingratiating  herself  with  the  soldiers, 
who  still  venerated  the  name  of  Peter  the  Great.  Upon  the  first  night 
following  her  coronation  she  caused  the  arrest  of  the  entire  German 
faction  of  the  court. 

The  fate  which  awaited  them,  whether  death  or  exile,  was  ample  to 
put  them  out  of  her  road  in  the  true  Russian  fashion  which  prevailed 
in  these  times.  She  prided  herself  upon  the  circumstance  that  in  her 
reign  no  one  should  suffer  death,  but  she  dealt  out  liberally  to  her 
enemies  the  punishment  of  exile,  torture  and  the  knout. 

Life  at  her  court  must  have  been  delightful !  No  noble  ever  went 
to  bed,  after  having  kissed  the  hand  of  his  smiling  sovereign,  with  full 


I90  THE   RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES. 

assurance  that  he  might  not  be  awakened  by  a  detachment  of  the  gtiard^ 
who  would  hustle  him  off  to  Siberia,  the  bourne  from  which  there  was- 
no  return,  or,  worse  yet,  to  torture  in  the  gate  yard.  In  fact,  her 
declaration  of  abolishment  of  capital  punishment  would  seem  to  have 
been  suggested  by  a  desire  that  her  enemies  should  suffer  the  prolonged 
niceties  of  torture  which  seemed  to  be  her  special  delight. 

The  Line  of  Descent  Secured  to  Peter's  Heirs. 

On  ascending  the  throne  she  summoned  to  her  court  the  son  of 
her  sister  Anna,  the  Duke  of  Holstein,  who  adopted  the  Greek  religion 
and  was  declared  the  heir.  In  1744  he  married,  it  is  needless  to  say 
with  the  consent  of  the  Empress,  the  Princess  Sophia  of  Anhalt-Zerbst^ 
who,  by  her  baptism  in  the  Orthodox  church,  became  Catherine.  Thus 
the  line  of  descent  was  secured  to  the  direct  heirs  of  Peter  the  Great, 

This  woman  Elizabeth,  of  narrow,  superstitious  ideas,  depraved 
morals  and  profound  dissimulation,  ruled  for  twenty  years.  She  was 
averse  to  business,  fond  of  pleasure,  and  left  State  affairs  mostly  to  her 
Ministers.  At  her  death  she  willed  the  crown  to  Charles  Peter  Uric,, 
the  son  of  her  deceased  sister  Anna,  as  her  successor.  He  came  to  the 
throne  under  the  title  of  Peter  III,  in  1762. 

The  new  Czar  had  long  been  a  resident  at  court,  and,  sixteen  years 
previously,  had  married  the  Princess  who,  upon  her  adoption  to  the 
Greek  church,  as  mentioned  above,  had  assumed  the  name  of  Catherine. 
She  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the  most  famous  and  infamous 
women  in  history,  under  the  title  of  "Catherine  the  Great."  She  was 
born  in  1729,  and  even  in  her  youth  she  was  not  remarkable  for  chastity. 
Her  husband,  it  is  said,  was  even  worse,  and  with  the  usual  incon- 
sistency they  mutually  reproached  each  other  for  their  bad  habits. 
Stung  by  the  brutality  of  her  husband,  perhaps,  she  became  still  more 
indecorous  in  her  conduct,  and  finally  was  incensed  beyond  measure  by 
his  passion  for  one  of  his  mistresses,  the  Countess  Woromzoff. 

The  Despicable  Character  of  Catherine. 

The  reign  of  this  woman  was  marked  by  a  bloodthirsty,  revengeful^ 
selfish,  unscrupulously  ambitious  and  tyrannical  administration.     Stim- 


THE   RUSSIAN   EMPRESSES.  '      191 

ulated  by  vanity  to  the  commencement  of  great  undertakings,  few  of 
which  she  ever  finished,  she  was  given  to  a  constant  intermeddhng  in 
the  affairs  of  foreign  courts,  and  in  the  adoption  of  customs  and  maxims 
of  government  unknown  before  her  time.  During  her  whole  reign  she 
was  engaged  in  wars,  mostly  of  aggression,  and  was  never  known  ta 
hold  a  treaty  sacred  when  interest  demanded  that  it  should  be  broken. 
Her  sins  against  the  acknowledged  laws  of  the  nation  were  numerous 
an'd  appalling. 

Historians  have  united,  however,  in  settling  upon  the  arbitrary  parti- 
tion of  Poland  as  the  stupendous  crime  of  her  reign.  She  carried  out 
her  policy  toward  this  unhappy  kingdom  with  a  persistency  and  inhu- 
manity far  more  revolting  than  that  of  her  allies,  Prussia  and  Austria, 
and  she  bore  the  burden  of  the  lion's  share  of  the  outrage  which  she 
perpetrated  upon  the  Polish  people. 

She  also  took  large  territories  from  Turkey  and  developed  a  plan 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  Mohammedans  from  Europe.  She  plotted  to 
set  up  in  the  European  realms  of  the  Sultan  a  new  government,  upon 
which  she  proposed  to  place  in  authority  one  of  her  lovers.  She  was 
active  in  pushing  so-called  reforms,  when  they  would  redound  to  her 
own  glory,  but  she  seems  to  have  cared  nothing  for  the  real  good  of  her 
people. 

She  had  lovers  galore,  upon  whom  in  turn  she  lavished  the  moneys 
of  the  national  treasury,  yet  never  had  anything  with  which  to  relieve 
the  wants  of  her  oppressed  and  starving  people.  The  details  of  her 
private  life  are  too  shocking  for  these  pages. 

She  is  said  to  have  possessed  beauty  of  a  certain  masculine  sort  and 
was  rather  above  the  medium  height,  her  carriage  being  majestic. 

Though  an  atheist  at  heart  she  was  outwardly  devout.     She  made 
great  literary  pretensions  and,  among  her  works,  she  wrote  a  history 
of  her  times,  but  her  knowledge  was  so  superficial  and  her  writings  or 
so  little  merit  that  they  have  not  been  considered  worthy  of  preserva- 
tion. 


192  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES. 

Rival  Claimants  Are  Murdered. 

She  came  to  the  throne  without  a  shadow  of  right,  by  the  murder 
of  her  husband,  and  took  good  cause  to  remove  the  true  heir,  Ivan,  who 
ever  since  the  beginning  of  EHzabeth's  reign  had  been  immured  in 
prison.    At  her  instigation  he  was  assassinated. 

There  was  another  possible  claimant  to  the  throne  and  she  resolved 
to  get  rid  of  her.  This  young  lady  was  the  daughter  of  the  Empress 
Elizabeth,  whose  marriage  had  been  a  clandestine  one  to  a  singer.  She 
lived  in  the  most  retired  manner  at  St.  Petersburg,  where  she  was  being 
educated  under  an  assumed  name. 

Prince  Radzivill,  of  Poland,  indignant  at  Catherine  for  the  wrongs 
she  was  heaping  upon  his  country,  saw  in  this  young  woman  an  instru- 
ment of  future  revenge.  Having  gained  over  her  guardians,  he  conveyed 
her  with  her  governess  to  Rome. 

The  Empress  took  prompt  measures  to  frustrate  these  designs  upon 
her  crown  and  confiscated  the  estates  of  the  young  lady's  patron,  so 
that  his  only  resources  in  Rome  were  the  money  derived  from  the  sale 
of  his  jewels,  he  having  fled  there  with  his  charge  for  refuge.  His  means 
being  exhausted,  Radziwill  set  out  for  Poland,  leaving  his  ward  and 
her  governess  in  reduced  circumstances  which  he  hoped  to  relieve  on 
his  return. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Poland,  Catherine  promised  to  restore  his  estates 
if  he  would  bring  the  young  Princess  back  to  Russia.  He  refused  to 
comply  with  this  condition,  but,  as  the  price  of  his  restoration  to  fortune, 
he  promised  not  again  to  press  her  claims  as  an  heir  to  the  throne. 

Resolves  to  Destroy  Elizabeth's  Daughter. 

She  resorted  to  the  instrumentality*  of  another  tool,  and  induced 
Alexis,  one  of  the  Orlofif  family,  all  of  whom  were  pliant  and  remorseless 
instruments  of  her  will,  to  go  to  Italy  and  accomplish  the  ruin  of  her 
possible  rival. 

Alexis  went  to  Leghorn,  where  he  laid  a  snare  for  the  young  Princess 
through  the  aid  of  a  base  Neapolitan  intriguer  named  Ribas,  whom  he 


THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES.  193 

sent  to  Rome,  and  where  the  villain  introduced  himself  as  an  Italian 
officer  who  had  come  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Princess,  in  whose 
fortunes  he  professed  to  feel  the  deepest  interest.  The  young  Princess 
was  destitute,  and  when  he  offered  assistance  he  was  graciously  received. 

When  Ribas  had  secured  the  complete  confidence  of  the  unsuspect- 
ing girl,  he  declared  that  he  had  come  commissioned  by  Alexis  Orloflf 
to  offer  her  the  throne  of  Russia,  and  that  if  she  would  consent  to 
marry  Orloff  he  would  head  a  rebellion  in  her  favor. 

The  young  Princess  had  already  been  informed  by  Prince  Radzivill 
of  her  claim  to  her  mother's  throne,  and  the  hopes  he  had  fostered  now 
seemed  confirmed,  so  that  with  fatal  alacrity  she  yielded  to  the  designs 
of  the  conspirators.  When,  later,  Alexis  himself  came  to  Rome  she 
gave  him  a  ready  welcome,  and  when,  as  part  of  his  carefully  prepared 
instructions,  he  declared  that  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  her,  with  the 
inexperience  of  a  girl  of  sixteen  she  readily  consented  to  become  his 
wife. 

A  Mock  Marriage  and  Its  Sequel. 

Pretending  that  he  desired  to  have  the  marriage  performed  accord- 
ing to  the  ritual  of  the  Greek  church,  Orloff  hired  some  villains  to 
assume  the  character  of  priests  and  witnesses,  and  a  false  ceremony  was 
performed.  He  told  his  bride  that  as  their  stay  in  Rome  exposed  them 
to  remark  and  criticism,  their  best  course  would  be  to  go  to  some  other 
Italian  city  and  there  await  the  insurrection  which  was  promised  to  place 
her  upon  the  throne.  They  went  to  Pisa,  where  Orlofif  hired  a  splendid 
palace  and  where  he  played  the  part  of  tender  and  devoted  husband. 

The  Russian  squadron  under  Admiral  Gregg  had  entered  the  Port 
of  Leghorn,  and  Orloff,  professing  that  urgent  business  called  him  there, 
invited  his  wife  to  accompany  him.  Upon  his  arrival  they  took  apart- 
ments provided  for  them  at  the  house  of  the  British  Consul,  where  the 
Princess  was  treated  with  the  utmost  respect,  ladies  of  the  highest  rank 
paying  her  distinguished  attention. 

She  found  herself  flattered  and  courted  in  a  brilliant  circle,  of  which 
she  was  the  center,  and  she  was  completely  hoodwinked  as  to  the  base- 
ness of  her  pretended  husband.    In  due  time  the  Princess  was  decoyed 


194  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES. 

on  board  one  of  the  vessels  of  the  fleet,  being  received  at  the  wharf  with: 
special  honors.  She  went  on  board  of  a  boat  covered  with  splendid 
awnings,  where  the  English  Consul  and  several  ladies  took  seats  with 
her.  Count  Orloflf  and  Admiral  Gregg  occupied  another  boat.  As  they 
approached  the  fleet  salutes  of  artillery  were  fired  and  she  was  greeted 
with  music,  the  young  princess*  being  assured  that  these  honors  were 
paid  to  her  as  the  heiress  to  the  Russian  throne. 

When  her  boat  came  alongside  the  ship  which  she  was  to  enter,  a- 
splendid  chair  was  let  down,  and,  seated  in  this,  she  was  hoisted  on  deck: 
in  great  pomp  and  ceremony.  Scarcely  had  she  set  foot  on  deck  when 
she  was  handcuffed  and  ordered  to  descend  into  the  hold.  She  appealed 
to  her  husband  for  protection,  throwing  herself  at  his  feet,  but  he,  being 
simply  the  tool  of  Catherine,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  her  entreaties.  The 
next  day  the  ship  sailed  for  Russia,  and,  upon  arriving  at  St.  Petersburg, 
the  Princess  was  immured  in  a  fortress  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva. 
The  Mystery  Never  Solved. 

'  The  citizens  of  Leghorn  who  had  supposed  the  Princess  to  be  the 
lawful  wife  of  Orlofif,  and  in  good  faith  had  paid  her  the  honors  due  her 
rank,  were  highly  indignant  at  the  infamous  treatment  the  young  lady 
had  received,  and  immediately  made  loud  protests.  The  Court  of 
Tuscany  at  once  complained  of  the  outrage,  both  to  the  Courts  of  St. 
Petersburg  and  Vienna.  Leopold  of  Austria  made  formal  protest,  and 
the  other  rulers  entered  complaint  against  Orloff,  who,  howover,  was 
upheld  by  Catherine,  who  unblushingly  braved  the  resentment  which 
the  treatment  of  the  Princess  had  aroused. 

What  became  of  the  girl  is  a  mystery,  although  it  is  generally  sup- 
posed that  she  was  drowned  in  the  inundation  of  the  Neva  which 
occurred  in  1777,  although  it  has  been  affirmed  by  some  that  she  was 
murdered  in  prison  by  Catherine's  command. 

Murders  Her  Husband. 

Among  the  other  acts  of  Catherine's  life  which  has  proved  to  be  a 
fruitful  subject  for  comment,  was  the  prompt  manner  in  which  she 
disposed  of  her  husband.     Being  incensed  at  his  conduct  she  repaired 


THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES.  195- 

with  the  Guard  to  one  of  his  houses  of  pleasure,  where  he  was  enjoying- 
himself  in  characteristic  excesses  in  company  with   his   mistress,   the 
Countess  Woronzoff,   and  caused  him   to  be   seized   and  thrown  intO' 
prison. 

A  few  days  later  it  was  reported  that  he  had  died  of  the  colic.  It 
was  currently  reported  that  his  sickness  had  been  induced  by  poison 
and  his  death  did  not  cause  much  surprise,  for,  with  Russian  despots 
of  that  time,  death  was  expected  to  follow  under  the  circumstances,  and 
whether  the  malady  was  named  "colic"  or  anything  else  the  result  was 
the  same.  During  all  her  long  reign  of  wickedness,  lasting  thirty-four' 
years,  she  did  much  to  advance  the  prestige  of  Russia. 

War  with  Turkey. 

In  1767,  at  the  instigation  of  the  King  of  France,  she  declared  war- 
on  Turkey,  with  the  avowed  object  of  aiding  the  Poles.     The  Russian 
general,  Galitzin,  attacked  the  Grand  Vizier  at  the  town  of  Khotin,  in- 
1769,  and,  continuing  the  campaign  in  that  part  of  the  world,  her  forces 
the  following  year  defeated  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  the  Turkish  ally, 
and  in  1770  she  won  the  great  victory  of  Kalgul.     In  1771  her  armies 
overran  the  Crimea,  and  the  infamous  Alexis  Orloff  defeated  the  Turks  ^ 
in  a  naval  engagement  at  Thesme  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor. 

In  this  expedition  the  Russians  were  assisted  by  the  English,  who- 
in  great  numbers  entered  the  naval  service  of  the  Empress.  In  1774 
she  signed  a  peace  wherein  the  Sultan  acknowledged  the  independence 
of  the  Crimea.  The  Russians  thus  detached  this  province  from  the 
Turkish  dominions,  and  after  exercising  over  it  a  kind  of  protectory, 
added  it  to  their  dominions.  The  Sultan  also  ceded  Azoff  on  the  Don^ 
Kinburn  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper,  and  the  fortified  places  of  the 
Crimea.  The  unfortunate  Greeks,  who  in  the  meantime  had  been  in- 
duced to  rise  against  the  Turks,  were  abandoned  to  their  fate. 

Other  Events  During  Catherine's  Reign. 

The  year   1771   was  also  signalized  by  the  outbreak   of  the  great 
plague  at  Moscow,  and  many  of  its  inhabitants  perished.     Afterwards 


196  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES. 

occurred  a  rebellion  by  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  whose  leader  declared 
himself  to  be  the  Emperor  Peter  III.  He  alleged  that  he  had  escaped 
from  the  hands  of  his  would-be  murderers,  and  would  soon  regain  his 
throne.  A  large  band  of  disaffected  peasants  gathered  round  him  and 
he  was  joined  by  many  of  the  Mongol  races  hostile  to  the  Russian  rule. 

At  first  the  generals  sent  against  him  were  defeated,  the  path  of 
the  rebels  being  everywhere  marked  with  bloodshed  and  pillage.  He 
even  got  possession  of  certain  towns  of  importance,  including  Kazan. 
If  he  had  been  anything  other  than  a  vulgar  robber,  Catherine  might 
have  trembled  on  her  throne,  but  the  people,  outraged  by  his  cruelties, 
failed  to  support  him  and  he  was  captured,  taken  to  Moscow  in  a  cage, 
and  publicly  executed  in  1775. 

In  the  same  year  the  Empress  put  an  end  to  the  so-called  Republic 
of  the  Zaporogian  Cossacks,  a  people  who  had  maintained  themselves 
in  South  Russia,  occupying  a  territory  north  of  the  Black  Sea  and  west 
of  the  Don  Cossacks. 

Catherine  prided  herself  on  her  learning,  and  a  great  codification 
of  the  laws  took  place  under  her  direction,  making  what  has  been  called 
the  Sixth  Period  of  Russian  legislation.  The  serfs,  however,  received 
no  benefit  by  the  changes,  being  still  refused  the  right  to  make  com- 
plaints against  their  masters.  In  fact,  the  character  of  the  tyranny  of 
her  reign,  and  the  power  of  the  nobility  at  the  time,  is  illustrated  by 
their  right  to  send  their  serfs  to  Siberia  as  a  punishment,  or  of  handing 
them  over  to  be  enlisted  in  the  army.  The  public  sale  of  serfs  was  still 
legal  and  a  matter  of  every-day  occurrence. 

The  Plans  of  Peter  Carried  Out. 

Catherine  divided  the  country  into  governments  for  better  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  each  country  being  subdivided  into  districts.  She 
also  took  away  from  the  monasteries  their  lands  and  their  serfs,  and 
allotted  to  them  proportionate  payments  from  the  public  revenues.  The 
plans  of  Peter  the  Great  in  this  respect  were  thus  fully  carried  out,  and 
the  Church  became  entirely  dependent  upon  the  State. 

A  second  war  with  Turkey  broke  out  in  1787,  the  Ottoman  govern- 


THE  RUSSIAN  EMPRESSES.  197 

ment  being  aroused  by  suspicions  of  Catherine's  intention  toward  it  by 
a  tour  of  inspection  through  the  southern  provinces  of  Russia,  and  espe- 
cially by'^a  series  of  interviews  with  the  Emperor  Joseph  II. 

To  increase  her  embarrassment  Sweden  declared  war  at  the  same 
time,  requiring  from  Russia  the  cession  of  the  southern  part  of  Finland, 
which  had  been  taken  from  her  previously.  The  Empress,  however,  met 
with  good  fortune,  both  in  the  contest  with  the  Swedes  and  with  the 
Turks,  and,  after  a  sanguinary  battle  with  the  Mussulmans,  in  1790,  took 
Ismail,  and  by  the  treaty  of  1792  gained  new  territory. 

Finally,  in  1796,  Catherine  died  without  a  moment's  warning,  and 
the  vast  empire,  whose  aggrandizement  had  been  the  one  dream  of  her 
Hfe,  passed  to  her  son  Paul,  the  son  whom  from  his  birth  she  had  hated 
and  persecuted. 

Catherine  a  Factor  in  the  Birth  of  America. 

Thus  passed  away  this  woman,  who,  by  constant  intrigues  and  many 
wars,  in  spite  of  her  wickedness,  had  well  defended  the  confines  of  her 
empire,  and  above  all  she  had  destroyed  the  power  of  Poland  by  a 
second  and  third  partition  of  this  unhappy  country,  through  playing  by 
turns  into  the  hands  01  France,  Prussia  and  Austria.  No  sovereign 
since  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  extended  the  frontier  of  the  empire  by  such 
conquests.  She  had  given  for  Russia  her  boundaries  at  the  Nieraen, 
the  Dniester  and  the  Black  Sea. 

During  her  reign,  by  her  friendship  for  John  Paul  Jones,  the  Ameri- 
can privateer,  and  through  the  connivance  of  Frederick  of  Prussia,  she 
had  encouraged  the  course  of  France  toward  the  revolution  of  the 
British  colonies  in  America,  and  thus,  indirectly,  aided  the  establishment 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

Thus,  while  for  the  most  part  we  find  in  her  character  only  that 
which  is  detestable  in  personal  and  political  morality,  the  people  of  this 
country  cannot  forget  that  perhaps  she  played  an  important  part  in  the 
birth  of  this  republic,  which  has  stood  for  more  than  a  century  and  a 
quarter  as  the  type  of  personal,  political  and  religious  freedom  through- 
out the  world. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
RUSSIA  DURING   THE   NAPOLEONIC  ERA 

'•The  Reign  of  Paul  I — Issues  Ukase  Limiting  Succession  to  Male  Line — His  Policy  One 
of  Conciliation — His  Ignoble  End — Alexander  I,  His  Foreign  and  Domestic  Policy — 
Opposes  Napoleon's  Despotism — The  Battles  of  Austerlitz  and  Friedland — French 
Invasion  of  Russia — The  Retreat  from  Moscow — Capture  of  Paris — Overthrow  of  the 
Great  Corsican — ^Death  of  Alexander. 

WE  NOW  come  to  the  reign  of  Paul  I,  which  began  on  the  17th 
of  November,  1796,  and  lasted  until  the  24th  of  March,  1801. 
From  this  time  forward  we  have  no  more  women  upon  the  throne  of 
Russia.    This  was  due  to  Paul. 

Succession  Limited  to  Males. 

Peter  the  Great  was  the  author  of  a  ukase,  which  gave  to  the  sov- 
ereign the  right  to  name  a  successor  by  will,  and  it  is  believed  that 
Catherine  had  intended  to  deprive  her  son  of  the  crown  and  settle  the 
succession  upon  his  eldest  son  Alexander.  One  of  the  first  things  which 
Paul  did  was' to  repeal  this  ukase  of  Peter  and  promulgate  another  lim- 
iting the  succession  to  the  throne  to  the  male  line  by  hereditary  de- 
scent, the  supreme  authority  to  devolve  upon  a  woman  only  upon  the 
>  entire  extinction  of  every  male  heir. 

Thus  he  at  least  removed  the  probability  in  future  of  another  em- 
press coming  to  the  throne  by  the  murder  of  her  husband,  as  had  been 
the  case  with  Catherine  II,  who  had  caused,  it  will  be  remembered,  the 
poisoning  of  Peter  III  -during  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  seizing  the 
government  herself. 

Paul  came  to  the  throne  at  the  time  of  great  political  activity  in  Eu- 
rope, due  to  the  result  of  the  French  Revolution  and  the  rapi4  rise  of 
Napoleon. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  his  contemporaries  were  Selim  III, 

198 


RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA.  199 

Sultan  of  Turkey;  Pius  VI,  Pope  of  Rome;  Charles  I,  of  Spain;  Freder- 
ick-William II,  of  Prussia;  Charles  Theodore,  of  Bavaria;  Francis  II,  of 
Germany;  Ferdinand  IV,  of  Naples;  Christian  VII,  of  Denmark;  Gus- 
tavus  IV,  of  Sweden;  William  V,  of  Holland;  George  III,  of  England, 
while  George  Washington  was  drawing  his  second  administration  to  a 
close  in  the  United  States. 

Exhumes  the  Body  of  His  Father. 

One  of  Paul's  first  acts  was  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  his  father, 
Peter  III,  who  had  been  privately  buried  by  his  mother's  orders  at  the 
monastery  of  St.  Alexander  Nevsky.  He  caused  the  remains  to  be  ex- 
humed and  encased  in  a  gorgeous  casket  to  match  that  which  held  the 
body  of  Catherine,  and  proceeded  with  great  pomp  to  have  a  joint 
funeral.  The  coffins  containing  his  parents'  remains  were  placed  close 
together  side  by  side,  covered  with  an  inscription  in  immortelles  which 
read  "Parted  in  Life,  United  in  Death." 

With  a  refinement  of  revenge  which  was  quite  civilized  compared 
with  what  Peter  the  Great  would  have  done,  he  caused  the  assassins  of 
"his  father,  the  notorious  Alexis  Orloff  and  Prince  Baradinsky,  to  walk 
beside  his  father's  coffin  as  chief  mourners. 

A  Czar  Full  of  Good  Intentions. 

Despising  his  mother's  memory,  he  proceeded  to  repeal  her  laws  and 
undo  so  far  as  possible  the  things  which  she  had  done  in  the  regulation 
of  affairs  at  court.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  aboHsh  the  words  "so- 
■ciety"  and  "citizen,"  a  term  which  Catherine  had  delighted  to  roll  off  the 
€nd  of  her  tongue  in  imitation  of  the  custom  at  Paris  under  the  Revo- 
lutionary leaders. 

If  he  had  been  brought  up  right,  Paul  might  easily  have  been  a  great 
man.  Through  all  his  youth,  however,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  ac- 
cession, when  over  forty,  he  had  been  subject  to  a  policy  of  suppression. 
He  had  been  forbidden  the  court,  kept  out  of  the  army  and  in  every 
way  possible  treated  with  contumely  by  his  mother  and  the  aristocracy 
which  surrounded  her. 

It  was  scarcely  his  fault  then  that  he  came  to  the  throne  without 


200  RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

knowledge  of  his  empire,  of  the  science  of  government,  or  the  art  of 
war.  The  result  was  that  he  did  many  foolish  things  and  throughout 
his  reign  of  less  than  five  years  was  always  an  uncertain  character  in 
domestic  and  foreign  policies. 

He  began  his  reign  with  an  evident  intention  to  make  his  administra- 
tion one  of  peace  and  he  publicly  proclaimed  that  Russia,  rent  and  ex- 
hausted by  half  a  century  of  almost  constant  warfare,  needed  peace  for 
recuperation. 

Leading  Events  of  Paul's  Reign. 

He  probably  would  have  been  able  to  pursue  this  policy  to  the  end 
but  for  Napoleon,  the  arch  disturber  of  the  affairs  of  Europe.  He  began 
a  policy  of  conciliation  toward  Poland,  bringing  home  many  of  the  ex- 
iles from  Siberia.  He  withdrew  the  Russian  army  from  the  frontiers 
of  Persia,  and  reduced  the  military  levies  throughout  the  empire.  He 
announced  to  the  King  of  Prussia  that  he  was  not  in  favor  of  further 
conquests  and  dictated  a  circular  which  he  communicated  to  the  foreign 
powers,  setting  forth  that  although  Russia  would  take  no  part  in  the 
contest  with  France,  the  emperor  would  remain  as  ever  united  with  his 
allies,  and  oppose  by  all  possible  means  the  progress  of  the  mad  French 
Republic,  which  threatened  Europe  with  total  ruin,  by  the  destruction 
of  her  laws,  privileges,  property,  religion  and  manners.  He  refused 
armed  assistance  to  Austria,  which  was  alarmed  by  the  sensational  vic- 
tories of  Napoleon  in  Northern  Italy. 

He  recalled  the  vessels  sent  by  Catherine  to  join  the  English  fleet 
to  blockade  the  coasts  of  France  and  Holland.  He  even  went  so  far 
while  friendly  with  the  allies  who  had  united  against  Napoleon,  as 
to  give  assurances  to  France  that  he  desired  to  live  at  peace  with  her 
and  that  he  would  persuade  the  members  of  the  coalition  to  end  the 
war,  offering  the  mediation  of  Russia  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
result. 

The  operations  of  France  in  the  Mediterranean,  however,  soon  led 
him  into  difSculties  with  Napoleon  and  when  the  latter  took  Malta,  ex- 
pelling the  knights,  he  invited  them  to  an  asylum  at  St.  Petersburg  and 
himself  became  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Order.    The  presence  of  Na- 


RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA.  201 

poleon  in  Egypt  having  at  the  same  time  alarmed  the  Porte,  Panl  was 
led,  contrary  to  all  the  traditions  of  Russia,  to  make  an  alliance  with  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  in  opposition  to  the  aggressive  policy  of  France  in 
the  Levant. 

Internal  Dissensions  Lead  to  Paul's  Overthrow. 

In  the  meantime  troubles  were  brewing  at  home  due  to  his  own  mad 
eccentricities.  He  changed  the  organization  of  the  army,  adopting  Prus- 
sian uniforms,  to  the  intense  disgust  of  the  military.  He  issued  orders 
regulating  the  manner  of  dress  and  the  wearing  of  beards.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  liberal  in  exiling  the  favorites  of  his  mother  to  Siberia,  and 
speedily  caused  the  growth  of  a  large  party  of  discontents  throughout 
the  empire. 

The  result  was  a  conspiracy  for  his  overthrow,  and  in  a  melee  at  his 
palace  he  was  seized  and  strangled,  thus  coming  to  an  ignoble  end  and 
making  way  for  his  eldest  son,  Alexander. 

Paul  was  twice  married,  first  to  a  Princess  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  who 
died  early ;  and  again  to  Maria  of  Wurtemburg,  a  princess  of  rare  beauty, 
talent  and  virtue.  She  became  the  mother  of  nine  children,  four  sons, 
Alexander,  Constantine,  Nicholas  and  Michael ;  and  five  daughters. 

Alexander  the  First  is  Crowned. 

Alexander  I  came  to  the  throne  of  Russia  just  about  the  time  that 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  inaugurated  president  of  the  United  States,  old 
George  III  being  still  nominally  king  of  England  and  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte about  to  seize  the  power  in  France  as  First  Consul,  which  he  drd 
the  following  year. 

With  the  new  emperor  came  a  revulsion  of  foreign  policy.  The 
maritime  differences  as  to  questions  of  blockade  and  right  of  neutrals 
were  adjusted  with  England  and  a  reconciliation  was  effected  with 
George  III.  Paul's  Council  of  State  was  dismissed  and  a  new  cabinet 
of  younger  men  with  English  sympathies  was  installed.  Still  Alexander 
did  not  intend  hostilities  with  France,  but  Napoleon  was  greatly  irri- 
tated at  this  abrupt  change  in  Russian  policy. 

No  friend  of  his  could  flirt  with  Brittania. 


^02  RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

To  this  attitude  the  high-spirited  Alexander  gave  instructions  to  his 
minister  at  Paris  which  breathed  defiance  toward  Bonaparte,  giving  him 
to  understand  that  he  could  not  use  Russia  as  a  weapon  against  Eng- 
land. An  elaborate  treaty  of  peace  and  amity  however  was  made  be- 
tween Napoleon  and  the  Emperor,  by  which  the  First  Consul  promised 
to  do  a  lot  of  things  which  he  never  did,  and  no  doubt  never  intended 
to  do,  so  far  as  provision  was  made  for  th6  recognition  of  the  rights  of 
various  small  kingdoms  and  a  policy  of  evacuation  in  the  Eastern  Medi- 
terranean. 

The  First  Steps  Toward  Universal  Freedom. 

Alexander  was  most  concerned  in  the  domestic  policy  of  Russia.  He 
set  about  to  inaugurate  moral  reforms,  striving  to  forget  old  animosi- 
ties at  home  and  abroad  and  to  adopt  a  pacific  policy  toward  all.  He 
soon  won  the  enviable  title  of  the  "Prince  of  Peace."  His  early  refor- 
mations were  many  and  great,  and  that  which  has  given  the  chief  lustre 
to  his  name  was  the  abolition  of  the  public  sale  of  serfs.  He  thus  paved 
the  way  for  the  final  emancipation,  which  was  a  measure  very  near  his 
heart,  but  which  he  could  not  accomplish,  Russia  in  his  day  not  being 
ready  for  this  momentous  event.  He  took  the  initial  steps,  however, 
toward  universal  freedom.  He  gave  to  the  serfs  the  right  to  purchase 
their  own  emancipation  and  with  it  land  to  be  held  in  their  own  names, 
thus  elevating  them  to  citizenship  and  bringing  them  into  the  fold  of 
humanity,  which  in  Russia  had  been  closed  to  them  heretofore.  He 
abolished  punishment  by  torture.  He  removed  many  civil  and  social  re- 
straints which  had  pressed  heavily  upon  the  masses,  thus,  by  a  spirit  of 
liberality  unknown  in  any  Czar  before  his  time,  he  characterized  his 
reign  by  many  beneficent  and  praiseworthy  acts. 

History  will  no  doubt  ascribe  much  of  the  good  in  his  character  to 
his  benevolent  and  pure-minded  mother,  who  had  superintended  his  ed- 
ucation, and  who  passed  her  life  not  only  in  the  zealous  rearing  of  her 
.children,  but  in  mitigating  the  sufferings  of  those  around  her,  who  were 
less  fortunate,  and  in  founding  institutions  of  charity  and  universities 
^f  learning.    It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  Alexander  should  be  moved 


RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA.  203 

t)y  the  woes  and  sufferings  of  humanity,  and  be  prompted  to  do  all  in 
his  power  for  the  oppressed  millions  of  down-trodden,  war-ridden  Eu- 
rope. 

The  Collision  With  Napoleon. 

It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  despotism  which  Napoleon  was 
trying  to  force  upon  Europe  under  the  tri-color  of  France,  must  sooner 
or  later  bring  Russia  into  collision  with  the  ambitious  emperor  of  the 
Prench.  The  reconciliation  which  he  had  attempted  came  to  naught, 
and  the  alliance  of  1805  between  Russia,  England,  Austria  and  Sweden 
for  the  purposes  of  resisting  the  encroachments  of  the  French  on  the 
territories  of  independent  states,  could  only  lead  to  war. 

"The  Sun  of  Austerlitz." 

The  first  result  was  Austerlitz,  that  famous  triumph  for  France,  but 
an  event  baleful  in  its  influence  upon  the  peace  and  welfare  of  Europe. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  dramatic  battles  of  the  world,  so  graphically 
told  by  Headley,  the  American  historian,  and  Guizot,  the  able  historian 
of  France.  It  occurred  on  the  26.  of  December  and  on  this  field  Alex- 
ander appeared  in  person  at  the  head  of  50,000  men,  but  defeated,  he 
was  compelled  to  retreat  to  his  own  dominions.  Soon,  however,  he 
again  appeared  on  the  theatre  of  war. 

The  scene  of  conflict  was  now  changed  to  Poland.  On  December 
26,  1806,  was  fought  the  battle  of  Pultusk,  and  on  the  7th  and  8th  of 
February,  1807,  that  of  Eyleau,  neither  of  which  engagements  was  de- 
cisive. On  the  14th  of  the  following  June,  however,  the  Russians  were 
completely  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Friedland,  which  marked  the  zenith 
of  Napoleon's  glory. 

Those  of  our  readers  who  may  visit  New  York  City  would  do  well 
to  go  to  the  Metropolitan  Art  Gallery  and  study  carefully  the  great 
painting  of  the  French  artist  Meissonier,  which  depicts  with  fidelity  the 
crowning  moment  of  this  battle.  The  result  of  this  victory  was  an  in- 
terview between  the  two  emperors  which  led  to  the  famous  peace  of 
^he  treaty  of  Tilsit,  soon  to  be  broken. 

The  seizure  of  the  Danish  fleet  by  the  English  occasioned  a  declara- 


204  RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

tion  of  war  from  Russia  against  that  country  but  hostilities  only  ex- 
tended to  a  bloodless  cessation  of  trade  between  the  two  nations.  In 
fact  it  was  of  less  importance  than  the  now  almost  forgotten  war  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  France  which  during  the  administration 
of  President  Madison  did  lead  to  some  bloodshed  on  the  sea. 

Plans  for  the  Future. 

A  second  meeting  between  the  Russian  and  French  sovereigns  took 
place  at  Erfurt,  September  2y,  1808,  Napoleon  being  anxious  to  secure 
the  friendship  of  Alexander  previous  to  his  contemplated  conquest  with 
Spain.  While  Napoleon  was  engaged  in  this  undertaking  the  Russian 
emperor  took  the  opportunity  to  make  himself  master  of  the  Swedish 
province  of  Finland. 

Alexander  burning  under  the  defeats  which  he  had  suffered  at  Aus- 
terlitz  and  Friedland  determined  to  throw  oflF  the  yoke  of  Napoleon  and 
began  to  raise  an  army.  The  obvious  object  of  which  was  the  humilia- 
tion of  France.  Napoleon,  however,  was  not  asleep  and  he  on  his  part 
determined  upon  the  fatal  invasion  of  Russia,  which  was  the  crowning 
mistake  of  his  career.  Napoleon  was  anxious  to  renew  hostilities  with 
Russia  and  to  settle  for  once  and  all  his  differences  with  Alexander  and 
remove  his  power  as  a  menace  to  the  schemes  of  aggrandizement  which 
the  French  emj>€ror  contemplated,  chief  of  which  was  the  overthrow 
of  England. 

He  did  not  dare  to  attack  Great  Britain  without  first .  settling  his 
score  with  Russia.  In  the  meantime  he  had  formed  an  alliance  with 
Austria,  by  divorcing  Josephine,  and  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  Francis,  although  his  alliance  with  the  Austrian  court  had 
been  far  from  giving  him  the  support  of  the  Austrian  people.  The  re- 
sult of  diplomacy  which  followed  was  that  Napoleon  began  the  attempt 
to  annihilate  the  Russian  power,  under  the  guise  of  a  war  for  the  salva- 
tion of  Poland.  He  was  careful,  however,  not  to  go  too  far  in  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  old  monarchy  at  Warsaw,  his  prime  object  being, 
not  the  liberation  of  Central  Europe,  but  the  conquest  of  Russia,  which 
he  started  upon  with  some  preliminary  successes. 


RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA.  205 

The  Invasion  of  Russia. 

He  advanced  into  the  country  suffering  great  losses,  but  finally  de- 
<:'ided  upon  Moscow  itself,  the  traditional  capital  of  ancient  Russia,  as 
the  key  to  his  invasion.  Pressing  back  the  Russian  army,  he  finally  ar- 
rived upon  the  heights,  from  which  he  was  delighted  by  the  sight  of 
the  distant  city,  illuminated  by  the  setting  sun,  which  brought  into  full 
relief  the  oriental  brilliance  of  its  palaces  and  its  churches.  The  army 
shared  his  enthusiasm  but  it  was  a  city  of  solitude. 

The  Russian  army  and  the  people  of  the  Holy  City  had  left  it  to 
be  the  grave  of  the  Grand  Army  which  had  marched  so  far  to  reduce 
it  to  submission.  On  the  15th  of  September,  1812.  with  the  first  snows 
of  the  Russian  winter  in  the  air,  the  French  Emperor  entered  the 
deserted  streets.  Only  a  few  wretched  stragglers  were  left  to  watch 
the  advance  of  the  conqueror  to  luxurious  quarters  in  the  deserted 
Kremlin.  The  next  night  fire  broke  out  and  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain 
came  on  to  increase  the  disorder  and  discomfort  among  the  French 
troops.  No  means  were  found  for  checking  the  conflagration  and  ruin 
and  devastation  followed. 

Napoleon  found  that  he  had  captured  an  empty  city,  for  the  Russian 
army  had  escaped  him  and  he  desired  to  make  peace.  So  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Alexander,  at  St.  Petersburg,  with  the  evident  intention  of 
resorting  to  diplomacy  to  accomplish  his  ends  and  avert  the  ruin  which 
he  saw  staring  the  French  army  in  the  face. 

End  of  Napoleonic  Rule. 

French  historians  have  attributed  Napoleon's  disaster  to  the  burn- 
ing of  Moscow.  This  is  not  true.  It  was  not  fire,  but  hunger,  which 
faced  the  French  army.  All  the  machinery  of  the  city  had  disappeared. 
Its  markets  were  empty  and  there  was  no  food  to  be  had,  but  the  burn- 
ing of  Moscow,  which  has  figured  as  such  a  dramatic  episode  in  history, 
is  in  fact  a  French  myth.  It  is  true  there  was  fire  and  plenty  of  it,  but 
the  city  was  not  destroyed  and  stands  to-day  practically  as  it  stood 
before  Napoleon  ever  saw  it. 


2o6  RUSSIA  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  work  to  trace  the  retreat  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  Grand  Army  upon  its  return,  amid  the  snow-covered  wastes 
of  Russia,  in  the  midst  of  the  storms  and  freezing  cold  of  the  dark 
days  of  1812.  The  flower  of  France  perished  and  Napoleon's  ambition 
at  Moscow  found  its  ruin,  but  not  by  fire. 

On  joining  his  army  in  February,  1813,  in  Poland,  Alexander  pub- 
lished the  famous  manifesto  which  served  as  a  basis  of  the  new  coalition 
of  the  European  powers  against  the  French  Emperor  and  hereafter 
Germany,  and  then  France,  became  the  scene  of  hostilities,  culminating 
in  the  capture  of  Paris,  April  30,  1814.  This  was  followed  by  the 
abdication  of  Bonaparte  and  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

Alexander  visited  England  in  the  company  of  the  King  of  Prussia, 
and  on  his  return  to  his  own  dominions  he  again  busied  himself  in 
ameliorating  the  conditions  of  his  empire.  He  obtained  the  duchy  of 
Warsaw  and  was  recognized  as  the  King  of  Poland  by  the  Congress 
of  Vienna.  In  November,  181 5,  he  visited  Warsaw  and  there  pub- 
lished a  constitution  for  the  new  kingdom  and  next  to  his  empire. 

Death  of  Alexander. 

His  death  took  place  at  Taganrog,  in  the  Crimea,  December  i,  1825,, 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son,  Nicholas  I,  his  eldest  brother, 
Constantine,  resigning  to  him  the  right  of  succession. 

Thus  came  to  his  end  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Romanoffs,  a  sincere 
lover  of  peace,  vigilant,  brave  and  active  in  war,  intolerant  in  his 
religious  principles,  mild,  amiable  and  correct  in  his  private  life,  yet 
strict  in  the  administration  of  justice,  a  patron  of  literature  and  the 
arts,  and  though  ambitious  of  power,  yet  recognizing  the  spirit  of  his 
century  and  frequently  acting  in  accordance  with  its  highest  principles 
in  the  recognition  of  individual  liberty. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS 

A  Bom  Soldier — His  Marriages — Abdicates  the  Throne — Nicholas  I — His  Catechisms — 
Champions  the  Greeks — An  Insurrection — The  Crimean  War — The  Eesult  of  a  Hasty 
Policy. 

NICHOLAS  I  came  to  the  throne  under  peculiar  circumstances. 
He  was  not  the  heir  and  still  he  received  the  crown  peaceably 
and  by  the  consent  of  the  man  who  might  presumably  have  come  to^ 
the  throne  and  still  preferred  not  to.  This  singular  example  of  self- 
abnegation   is   worthy  of  explanation. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  and  his  wife  had  only  two  children,  both 
daughters,  'who  died  in  infancy.  Of  his  three  brothers,  Nicholas,  Con- 
stantine  and  Michael,  were  two,  nineteen  and  twenty-one  years  younger 
respectively.  The  order  of  succession  having  been  established  by  the 
ukase  of  Paul,  the  crown  naturally  devolved  on  Constantine. 

The  Childhood  of  Constantine. 

Of  all  Paul's  children  he  was  the  only  one  which  resembled  his 
father,  the  rest  inheriting  the  beauty  and  disposition  of  their  mother, 
the  German  Princess,  who  so  long  exercised  her  benevolent  influence 
at  Court,  both  as  the  wife  of  the  Tsar  and  as  Dowager  Tsarina.  In 
appearance  and  disposition  Constantine  was  a  Kalmuc,  except  that  he 
was  very  fair  in  his  complexion,  with  white  eyebrows  and  deep-set  blue 
eyes.  From  childhood  he  had  been  a  curious  fellow,  and  his  whimsical 
oddities  had  ever  been  a  source  of  amusement  at  Court.  He  had  been 
a  great  favorite  of  his  grandmother,  Catherine  II,  and  she  kept  him 
with  her  a  good  deal  of  the  time.  His  mother  also  had  been  particularly" 
fond  of  him,  although  not  so  promising  nor  of  so  amiable  a  disposition 
in  childhood  as  the  rest  of  her  family.    As  he  grew  up  he  hated  book*: 

207 


2o8  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

and  refused  absolutely  to  yield  obedience  to  his  tutors,  who  could  not 
by  any  possible  means  induce  him  to  study.  He  would  learn  nothing 
but  military  tactics  and  in  these  he  always  delighted.  When  he  grew 
older  he  was  extremely  fond  of  drilling  soldiers  and  was  a  very  marti- 
net in  matters  of  equipment  and  discipline.  He  often  showed  great 
severity  for  even  a  very  slight  breach  of  duty  or  etiquette  on  the  part 
of  a  soldier.  He  declared  that  he  was  utterly  opposed  to  war  because 
it  spoiled  the  soldiers'  uniforms.  He  wanted  a  nice  army  simply  to 
drill  and  review. 

Early  in  life,  however,  he  developed  real  military  talent  and,  when 
only  twenty  years  of  age,  he  distinguished  himself  in  Italy,  and  in 
token  of  approbation  his  father  gave  him  the  title  of  Caesarovitch,  or 
Son  of  Caesar.  He  was  very  proud  of  this  title  and  retained  it  through 
life.  At  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  also  he  showed  great  personal  bravery 
and  began  to  gain  popular  favor  as  an  officer. 

Although  subject  to  fits  of  ferocious  passion,  he  was  not  a  bad  fellow 
at  heart.  He  showed  great  reverence  for  the  memory  of  his  father; 
was  the  most  tender  and  respectful  of  sons  to  his  widowed  mother,  and 
he  regarded  his  brother  the  Emperor  with  a  blind  idolatry.  He  was 
constantly  with  him,  content  to  be  a  mere  cipher  by  the  side  of  the 
Great  Tsar  who  was  so  different  from  him  in  all  respects.  He  always 
showed  the  most  loyal  and  obsequious  obedience  to  Alexander  which 
was  not  surpassed  by  any  of  the  Tsar's  subjects. 

Becomes  Governor  of  Poland. 

He  also  proved  that  a  sympathetic  heart  lay  beneath  his  rough 
exterior  in  the  campaign  of  1812,  when  many  of  the  French  wounded 
fell  into  his  hands.  If  these  unfortunate  men  had  been  his  brothers  he 
could  not  have  treated  them  with  greater  kindness. 

In  1815  Alexander  placed  in  his  hand  the  military  government  of 
Poland,  and  this  circumstance  led  to  a  chain  of  events  which  controlled 
his  whole  life.  He  started  out  with  an  extremely  tyrannical  rule.  He 
shut  himself  up  in  his  palace,  being  visible  to  the  people  only  at  military 
reviews,  but  he  always  took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  internal  pros- 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  209 

perity  of  Poland  and  soon  learned  to  love  his  adopted  country  better 
than  his  own.  The  people  of  this  unfortunate  nation  learned  to  under- 
stand him  better,  and,  seeing  that  his  intentions  were  good,  he  even 
attained   to   considerable   popularity. 

A  Marriage  of  Convenience. 

When  a  mere  boy  of  seventeen  his  grandmother  had  attended  to 
his  marriage.  She  had  selected  for  him  the  Princess  Julienne  of  Bel- 
gium, the  bride  at  the  time  being  a  child  of  fifteen.  There  was  no 
affection  on  either  side,  and  two  years  after  the  marriage  the  couple 
separated  by  mutual  consent,  the  young  wife  returning  to  her  home, 
being  provided  for  with  a  liberal  pension  and  the  title  of  Grand  Duchess. 
For  many  years  Constantine  showed  no  inclination  to  renew  his  mat- 
rimonial experience,  but  finally  he  fell  madly  in  love  with  a  young  Polish 
Countess  whom  he  married,  having  obtained  a  divorce  from  his  first 
wife  by  Imperial  ukase. 

This  lady  was  endowed  with  a  fragile  and  delicate  constitution,  but 
with  great  refinement  of  manner,  and  mental  and  moral  charms  to  a 
remarkable  degree. 

She  seems  to  have  completely  changed  the  rough  character  of  the 
eccentric  Constantine,  whose  affections  never  for  a  moment  swerved 
from  their  first  and  only  object.  He  treated  his  wife  with  chivalrous 
devotion  and  tenderness  to  the  end,  and  for  her  sake  it  was  that  he 
resigned  the  throne  of  Russia. 

Constantine  Relinquishes  His  Title. 

His  wife  not  being  of  royal  birth  the  marriage  was  what  is  called 
**by  the  left  hand,"  and  Alexander  only  consented  to  it  with  the  under- 
standing that  Constantine  at  the  same  time  relinquished  his  title  to 
the  crown.  It  is  probable  that  the  Tsar,  appreciating  the  fantastic 
character  of  his  brother,  was  convinced  that  it  would  not  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  empire  for  him  to  rule  it,  and,  possibly,  feared  that 
his  acts,  should  he  come  to  the  throne,  might  create  the  same  sort 
of  disturbance  which  had  marked  the  unfortunate  reign  of  his  father. 


2IO  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

However  this  may  be,  he  seems  to  have  made  this  marriage  a  pretext 
for  excluding  Constantine  from  the  succession,  and  it  is  only  fair  to 
say  that  the  latter  seems  never  to  have  regretted  the  result  of  the 
compact.  The  agreement  had  been  secret,  probably  known  only  to  the 
Emperor,  his  mother  and  the  two  brothers  most  concerned.  The  act 
of  abdication  was  duly  signed,  sealed  and  deposited  with  the  Council  of 
State,  to  be  opened  only  after  Alexander's  death. 

During  his  last  illness  Alexander  had  gone  to  the  Crimea  where 
the  result  was  awaited  with  great  anxiety,  his  condition  being  well 
understood  by  the  public.  Near  the  end  he  apparently  made  a  re- 
markable change  for  the  better,  and  a  service  of  thanksgiving  was 
ordered  in  the  Royal  Chapel,  but  in  the  midst  of  the  Te  Deum  a  mes- 
senger arrived  and  entering  the  church  announced  Alexander's  death. 
The  Empress-Mother  fainted  from  the  shock  and  her  first  words  upon 
recovering  were,  "Poor  Russia."  She  probably  feared  that  Constantine 
would  repent  his  act  of  abdication  and  that  strife  for  the  crown  might 
ensue. 

Constantine  Proclaimed  Emperor. 

In  this  she  was  mistaken.  Nicholas,  however,  demonstrated  his 
willingness  to  avoid  a  struggle  over  the  succession,  and  at  once  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Constantine  who  was  the  lawful  heir,  and  who 
was  that  very  day  proclaimed  Emperor.  Messengers  were  sent  to- 
Poland  to  see  Constantine,  and  after  an  interim  of  three  weeks,  docu- 
ments came  from  him  confirming  his  resignation  in  the  most  emphatic 
and  solemn  manner,  and  offering  his  allegiance  to  his  brother  Nicholas. 
Constantine  seems  to  have  taken  this  step  freely  and  there  were  many 
reasons  which  moved  him  to  this  course. 

He  probably  realized  that  he  was  unfit  to  rule  so  vast  an  empire, 
and  he  knew  also  that  his  wife,  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  not  of  royal 
birth,  could  never  be  received  at  the  Russian  Court  with  the  honors 
due  to  an  Empress,  and  that  his  children  would  be  ineligible  to  the 
succession.  Furthermore  he  had  become  more  greatly  interested  in 
Poland  than  in  Russia,  and  he  prized  above  all  things  the  quiet  of 
his  domestic  life  at  Warsaw. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  21  r 

Death  and  Exile. 

Curiously  enough,  Nicholas  was  obliged  to  face  an  insurrection 
against  him  at  the  very  outset  of  his  reign.  None  of  the  three  brothers 
had  been  very  popular  in  Russia,  but  Constantine  was  the  favorite  of 
the  army,  and  the  military  party  declared  for  him.  Many  citizens  of 
the  capital  joined  in  revolt,  feigning  disbelief  in  the  statement  that 
Constantine  had  relinquished  the  throne  of  his  own  accord.  Then,  too, 
a  prejudice  against  the  autocracy  had  been  steadily  gaining  ground 
for  years  and  the  country  was  ripe  for  rebellion,  so  that  the  alleged- 
usurpation  of  Nicholas  merely  formed  a  convenient  pretext.  The  new 
Emperor  suppressed  the  uprising  with  great  vigor  and  cruelty,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  eighty  years  the  death  penalty  was  restored,  and  many 
of  the  best  and  bravest  men  of  the  leading  families  of  Russia  perished 
on  the  scaffold,  as  the  price  of  treason.  Many  more  were  sent  into 
exile  to  Siberia,  and  for  years  Nicholas,  who  was  implacable,  continued 
to  exile  prominent  people  by  the  score  for  he  never  forgave  or  forgot 
the  sin  of  disloyalty. 

An  Absolute  Despot. 

This  attempt  at  revolution  was  unfortunate  for  Russia,  because  it 
embittered  the  mind  of  the  Emperor  who  resolved  to  govern  by  his 
absolute  will,  an  autocrat  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word.  He  made 
himself  the  absolute  despot.  He  loved  Russia  as  a  whole  and  desired 
her  highest  good,  but  he  wanted  to  reform  her  in  his  own  way  and 
through  himself,  and  he  grew  to  believe  himself  infallible.  It  is  said 
that  he  wished  to  abolish  serfdom,  but  he  dare  not  do  it,  for,  with  all 
his  obstinacy,  he  was  vacillating  in  purpose  and  usually  failed  to  carry 
out  plans  which  he  formed. 

The  Imperial  Catechism. 
He  prepared  a  catechism  which  was  published  for  Russian  children 
by  his  order  in  1832.  This  text  book  was  entitled  "The  Worship  That 
Should  be  Rendered  to  the  Emperor,"  and  the  following  is  a  sample 
question :  "How  ought  want  of  respect  and  fidelity  toward  the  Emperor 
to  be  regarded?'' 


212  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSFHORUS. 

Answer,  "As  the  most  detestable  sin,  as  the  most  horrible  crime.'* 
In  another  place  in  this  catechism  it  is  declared  that  disobedience 
to  the  Emperor  is  the  same  as  disobedience  to  God  himself,  who  will 
recompense  homage  and  obedience  to  the  Emperor  in  another  world, 
and  punish  severely,  throughout  all  eternity,  those  who  fail  to  render 
them. 

And  this  was  in  vogue  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
a  country  regarded  as  enlightened. 

Rigid  Press  Censor^ip. 

He  introduced  a  severe  censorship  of  the  press,  a  custom  still  in 
vogue  in  Russia,  which  weighs  heavily  upon  the  development  of  pub- 
lication. The  period,  however,  was  fertile  in  literature,  especially  in 
the  field  of  poetry  and  romance,  and  the  stage  flourished.  In  1826  the 
perpetual  quarrels  between  Russia  and  Persia  on  the  subject  of  the 
frontiers  and  the  vassal  tribes  culminated  in  war.  The  Prince  Royal 
of  Persia  was  sent  at  the  head  of  an  army  to  march  on  Tiflis,  but  he 
received  a  check  at  the  Fortress  of  Choucha  by  a  heroic  resistance 
which  lasted  for  six  weeks.  The  Russians  thus  had  time  to  concentrate 
their  forces,  and  at  Elizabethpol  defeated  the  Persian  advance  eighteen 
thousand  strong,  having  in  their  own  army  only  ten  thousand  men, 
and  with  the  same  force  dispersed  the  Persian  main  army  forty-four 
thousand  strong,  pushing  the  remnant  in  retreat  across  the  Araxes 
River.  After  continued  successes  the  Russian  commander  set  out  for 
Teheran,  the  Persian  capital,  but  the  Shah  in  alarm  hastened  to  make 
a  treaty  of  peace  which  was  signed  February  22,  1828.  By  this  war 
Russia  gained  two  provinces  and  an  indemnity  of  twenty  million,  and 
important  commercial  advantages  to  Russian  subjects  in  Persia.  The 
River  Araxes  became  the  frontier. 

The  Eastern  Question. 

The  war  came  very  near  being  renewed  the  following  year  through 
the  massacre  of  the  Russian  Legation  at  Teheran,  but  it  was  averted 
by  prompt  disavowal  by  the  Persian  government,  and  the  further  fact 
that  Nicholas  was  engaged  in  war  with  Turkey.     The  result,  however, 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  213 

was  that  Persia  became  day  by  day  more  subject  to  Russian  influence, 
to  the  great  disgust  of  England,  where  the  so-called  Eastern  question 
was  taking  possession  of  the  public  mind,  and  the  dread  of  Russia's 
advance  toward  India  became  the  British  bugaboo  which  it  has  re- 
mained to  the  present  day. 

Nicholas  Issues  an  Ultimatum  to  the  Porte. 

Nicholas  became  the  ardent  champion  of  the  Greeks,  and  insisted 
that  the  Sultan  should  put  an  end  to  the  policy  of  extermination,  and 
demanded  satisfaction  for  bloody  outrages  which  had  been  inflicted 
on  Orthodox  Christians  from  time  to  time,  with  ever  increasing  fre- 
quency. In  March,  1826,  he  presented  his  -ultimatum  to  the  Porte 
demanding  the  evacuation  of  the  Danubian  Principalities,  the  autonomy 
of  Servia,  and  other  things,  all  tending  to  diminish  the  prestige  of 
the  Sultan  in  his  European  dominions,  and  a  guarantee  of  the  rights  of 
the  Orthodox  Christians.  The  other  powers  of  Europe  interested  them- 
selves in  the  cause  of  the  Greeks,  especially  the  English  Government. 
The  French  also  energetically  supported  the  Tsar  in  the  demand  for 
Greek  autonomy.  The  Porte  resisted  these  demands  and  sent  an  army 
to  the  lower  peninsula  of  Greece.  Charles  X,  of  France,  who  was  the 
friend  of  Nicholas,  ordered  the  landing  of  troops  to  resist  the  Turks, 
and  the  French  navy  fell  upon  the  Turkish  squadron,  and,  at  the  battle 
of  Naverino,  destroyed"  it.  Turkey  now  declared  war  on  the  Powers, 
and  the  Russian  army  advanced  to  attack  the  Porte's  dominions  in  both 
Europe  and  Asia.  Wallachi  and  Moldavia  were  occupied,  the  Danube 
was  crossed,  and  Shumla,  the  famous  Russian  stronghold,  was  taken. 
In  Asia  the  Russians  stormed  the  Fortress  of  Kars.  The  war  ended  in 
a  peace  at  Adrianople,  by  the  terms  of  which  Russia  got  a  little  terri- 
tory about  the  mouth  of  the  Danube,  and  the  independence  of  Greece 
was  recognized.     This  was  in  1829. 

The  Spirit  of  Revolution. 

In  the  meantime  troubles  of  a  serious  nature  beset  Nicholas  on 
every  hand.    In  1830  the  Asiatic  cholera  invaded  the  country,  reaching 


214  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

Moscow  with  dire  results.  Worse  than  all  was  the  trouble  in  Poland. 
The  spirit  of  revolution,  which  was  ripe  all  over  Europe,  could  not 
but  make  itself  felt  in  a  country  whose  history  from  the  earliest  times 
had  been  one  of  political  turmoil.  The  growth  of  secret  societies,  which 
had  their  nest  in  Paris,  undermined  every  other  government  on  the 
continent,  and  were  specially  flourishing  in  Poland  and  Russia,  where 
a  sort  of  underground  revolution  was  prepared  and  smoldered,  only 
waiting  for  a  convenient  opportunity  to  break  out.  The  Poles  had 
several  grievances  against  Constantine,  the  Tsar's  brother,  as  well  as 
the  Emperor  himself.  They  clamored  for  the  restoration  of  their  old 
constitution;  the  army  desired  to  take  part  in  the  war  against  Turkey, 
and  the  Poles  wished  to  have  the  Lithuanian  provinces  restored  to  their 
kingdom. 

The  Rebellion  at  Warsaw. 

All  these  aspirations  had  been  denied  them  under  Constantine,  and 
finally,  on  the  17th  of  November,  there  was  an  open  insurrection  at 
Warsaw  headed  by  a  party  of  students,  and  pandemonium  broke  loose ; 
the  palace  was  attacked  and  Constantine  himself  barely  escaped.  Of 
course,  the  Emperor  Nicholas  could  not  brook  such  doings,  and  he 
immediately  proceed;ed  to  put  down  the  revolt.  It  cost  a  bloody  war 
and  the  better  part  of  a  year  to  accomplish  it,  but  when  he  was  through 
there  was  no  more  Poland  on  the  map. 

This  insurrection  had  resulted,  among  other  things,  in  developing 
;a  pronounced  hostility  to  the  French  who  had  deposed  Charles  X  and 
•placed  Louis  Philippe  on  the  throne.  The  Tsar  considered  that  the 
chief  cause  of  the  rebellion  had  been  the  influence  of  French  revolu- 
tionary ideas,  and  he  became  the  outspoken  enemy  of  the  Paris  Gov- 
ernment. In  December,  1832,  when  Nicholas  went  to  the  aid  of  the 
Sultan,  with  a  view  to  driving  back  the  Egyptians  who  threatened 
Constantinople,  France  protested,  and,  in  company  with  England,  in- 
terfered, causing  the  withdrawal  of  the  Russian  forces  and  also  the 
retreat  of  the  Egyptian  army.  This  interference  of  the  Western  nations 
led  to  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  which  practically  made  Turkey 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  215 

-dependent  upon  the  Tsar.     In  the  face  of  the  protest,  however,  the 
treaty  was  never  executed. 

The  Coalition  of  the  Great  Powers. 

When  the  .war  between  Egypt  and  Turkey  was  renewed,  in  1839, 
France  taking  sides  with  the  former,  England  df  serted  her  because  she 
was  anxious,  as  she  always  has. been,  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  The  English  Government,  therefore,  joined  the  con- 
spiracy with  Russia,  whose  aim  was  to  exclude  France  from  the  assembly 
of  Euiupean  fowcics,  and  in  July,  1840,  the  treaty  of  London  was  con- 
cluded between  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  by  which 
France  was  isolated,  and  therefore  could  not  proceed  with  her  designs 

in    Egypt,   U^^^^*   *°    io.K.K,   oucIt    p    rnplitinn 

England  was  soon  compelled,  however,  to  again  change  her  aniaxao« 
in  order  to  save  Constantinople  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  Russia. 

The  Schemes  of  the  Russian  Emperor. 

Nicholas  could  not  escape  the  shock  of  the  revolutions  of  1848, 
which  shattered  the  foundations  of  every  continental  power.  The 
uprisings  in  Germany,  Hungary,  Italy,  France  and  the  Danubian  coun- 
tries were  infectious,  and  the  spirit  of  revolt  against  the  monarchical 
system  which  had  caused  these  disturbances  spread  throughout  the 
Russian  Empire.  The  Tsar  had  of  necessity  to  take  up  arms  to  defend 
his  authority  and  unite  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria  in  the  suppression 
of  a  combined  insurrection  by  the  Hungarians  and  Poles.  In  the  mean- 
time, Turkey,  encouraged  by  France,  seemed  about  to  break  loose  from 
the  Tsar's  influence  and  revoke  his  right  of  protectorate  over  the  East- 
ern Christians  which  had  been  assured  to  him  by  the  peace  of  Adrian- 
ople.  He  therefore  demanded  new  guarantees,  which  the  Porte  refused. 
England  hesitated  to  take  part  in  the  quarrel,  but  on  the  9th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1853,  two  private  interviews  between  Nicholas  and  the  British 
Ambassador  revealed  to  the  latter's  government  the  ultimate  aim  of 
all  the  Emperor's  schemes.  His  object  was  nothing  less  than  to  wind 
up  Turkey  and  form  independent  states  on  the  Danube  under  Russian 


2i6  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

protection,  and  establish  himself  at  Constantinople.  England  was  to  be 
allowed  to  take  such  territories  as  suited  her  convenience,  provided  she 
did  not  include  Constantinople.  Nicholas  suggested  to  the  British 
Minister  that  they  unite  their  forces  for  carrying  out  this  plan,  without 
reference  to  how  the  proceeding  might  be  relished  by  France  or  Austria. 
The  Emperor  flattered  himself  that  he  could  carry  his  day  with 
the  English  because  the  idea  never  entered  his  head  that  Napoleon  HI 
could  bring  about  an  alliance  with  Great  Britain  with  the  memory  of 
Waterloo  still  rankling  in  the  French  mind.  He  therefore  imprudently 
confided  his  plans  to  the  British  Ambassador  and  made  such  an  alliance 
possible.  England  took  fright  at  the  prospect  of  the  Tsar  commanding 
the  Dardanelles  and  turned  to  France  to  urge  her  to  more  energetic 
measure  in  theJE^a^it ~— j^-=^ — __— 

Russia  Face  to  Face  with  Europe. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  1853,  Nicholas  set  out  in  earnest  on  this  scheme 
of  Russian  aggrandizement,  his  army  crossing  the  frontier.  England 
and  France  gathered  their  fleets  in  the  vicinity  of  Constantinople  and 
awaited  results.  Turkey  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  by  demanding  that 
Russia  evacuate  the  Danubian  Principalities,  and  precipitated  war.  On 
November  30,  1853,  the  destruction  of  the  Turkish  fleet  by  the  Russian 
Admiral  at  Sinope  destroyed  all  hope  of  localizing  the  war,  and  the 
French  and  English  fleets  having  entered  the  Bosphorus,  now  sailed 
into  the  Black  Sea  and  obliged  the  Russian  warships  to  withdraw  into 
ports.  The  superiority  of  the  navy  of  the  Allies  enabled  them  to  attack 
Russia  in  all  her  seas.  In  the  Black  Sea  they  bombarded  the  Port  of 
Odessa  in  April,  1854,  and  in  the  Baltic  they  blockaded  Cronstadt,  and, 
disembarking,  took  the  Fortress  of  Bomarsund  in  August.  In  1855 
they  made  hostile  demonstrations  in,J:he  White  Sea,  and  on  the  Pacific 
they  blockaded  the  Siberian  ports  and  threatened  the  position  of  the 
Russians  on  the  River  Amur.  Austria  and  Prussia  likewise  made  an 
alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  and  the  former  concentrated  an  army 
along  the  Russian  frontier.  Thus  Nicholas  found  himself  practically 
face  to  face  with  the  rest  of  Europe. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  217 

Tired  of  the  Situation. 

The  Russians,  menaced  by  the  Austrian  concentration  on  the 
Danube,  and  by  the  disembarkation  of  the  French  and  EngHsh  at 
GallipoH  and  Varna  respectively,  made  a  desperate  attempt  to  take 
Sillistria,  but  failed  after  a  siege  lasting  from  April  to  July.  In  the  mean- 
time the  French  operations  on  the  lower  Danube  had  no  military  re- 
sults, but  the  army  was  wasted  by  cholera  and  fevers.  All  the  con- 
tending Powers  seemed  to  be  tired  of  the  situation,  and  the  Russians 
fell  back  from  the  Danube,  the  Austrians  taking  possession  of  the 
Principalities  through  an  understanding  with  the  European  Powers  and 
the  Sultan. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  on  the  Danube,  however,  that  of  the 

Crimea  be£fan. 

The  Crimean  War  Begins. 

The  generals  of  the  English,  French  and  Turkish  armies  held  a 
counsel  at  Varna  in  July  and  resolved  upon  the  campaign.  On  the 
14th  of  September  five  hundred  ships  landed  the  expeditionary  troops, 
and  on  the  20th  the  battle  of  Alma  was  fought,  in  which  the  Russians 
were  defeated  and  the  way  to  Sebastopol  was  opened. 

This  was  a  shock  to  Russia.  Since  the  ill-fated  expedition  of 
Napoleon  to  Moscow  in  1812  no  enemy  had  ever  set  foot  on  her  soil. 
The  Crimea,  protected  by  a  formidable  fleet,  impregnable  fortresses 
and  a  large  army,  had  been  deemed  secure  from  all  attack.  Now  the 
army  was  beaten,  the  Black  Sea  fleet  which  had  retreated  to  the  harbor 
of  Sebastopol  served  only  to  obstruct  the  channel.  Sebastopol  itself 
was  so  badly  protected  and  armed  that  undoubtedly  the  allies  could 
have  stormed  it  immediately  upon  their  arrival,  but  their  delay  gave 
time  for  its  fortification.  The  Russians  set  to  work  soldiers,  sailors 
and  citizens  and  in  a  few  days  reared  a  rampart  of  earthworks  with  a 
marvelous  exhibition  of  skill  and  activity.  The  redoubts  and  ramparts 
of  the  Center  of  the  Mast,  of  the  two  Redans,  and  of  the  Malakof, 
afterwards  celebrated  in  history,  all  rose  as  if  by  magic,  bristling  with 
guns  taken  from  the  useless  fleet.     Fourteen  or  fifteen  thousand  sailors 


2i8  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

came  to  reinforce  the  garrison.     The  three  Russian  admirals,  all  des- 
tined to  die  on  the  bastion  of  the  Malakof,  directed  the  defence. 

Balaklava  and  Inkermann. 

The  Allies  had  marched  on  the  Port  of  Balaklava  which  they  had 
captured  as  a  base  of  supplies.  They  took  up  a  position  on  the  south 
side  of  the  city,  while  by  the  bridges  over  the  great  harbor  on  the 
north  side  the  beleaguered  place  communicated  freely  with  the  Russian 
field  army,  from  which  it  could  constantly  receive  supplies  and  rein- 
forcements. It  was,  in  fact,  less  a  city  besieged  by  an  army  than  two 
armies  intrenched  opposite  each  other  and  keeping  all  their  com- 
munications open.  Several  times  the  Allies  were  interrupted  in  their 
siege  operations  by  the  Russian  field  army  and  they  had  to  give  battle 
at  Balaklava  in  October,  at  Inkermann  in  November,  and  at  Europatia 
the  following  February. 

While  the  Allies  dug  trenches,  sapped  and  mined,  gradually  boring 
their  way  into  the  Russian  possession,  their  industrious  enemy  also 
strengthened  the  fortifications  and  built  new  ones.  The  Allies  were 
obliged  to  undergo  the  hardships  of  a  severe  winter,  but  they  estab- 
lished themselves  more  and  more  strongly  in  this  little  corner  of  the 
Crimea  where  they  faced  all  the  forces  of  the  Russian  Empire. 

Death  of  Nicholas. 

In  the  meantime,  in  the  midst  of  the  siege,  in  March,  1855,  Nicholas 
died,  and  left  to  his  son  and  heir,  Alexander  II,  the  enormous  difficulties 
which  beset  the  country.  The  new  Emperor  was  thirty-seven  years  old 
at  the  time,  and  he  was  well  fitted  to  cope  with  the  complicated  situation 
which  faced  him. 

His  first  care  was  to  terminate  upon  honorable  conditions  the  war 
which  was  exhausting  Russia.  Negotiations  were  at  once  opened, 
through  the  Court  of  Vienna,  with  a  view  to  a  settlement  of  this  so- 
called  Eastern  questioh.  The  Western  Powers  could  not  agree  upon 
the  guarantees  to  be  exacted  from  Russia.  France  demanded  the 
neutralization  of  the  Black  Sea,  or  the  limitation  of  the  number  of  ves- 
'S^eAs  which  the  Tsar  might  keep  in  it. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  219 

A  Bad  Outlook  for  the  New  Emperor. 

In  the  meantime  the  siege  continued,  Sardina  took  a  hand  in  the 
game  and  sent  twenty  thousand  men  to  the  East.  Austria  had  engaged 
in  December,  1854,  to  defend  the  principaHties  of  the  Danube  against 
Russia,  and  Prussia  had  agreed  to  protect  Austria.  Napoleon  III  and 
Queen  Victoria  made  visits  to  each  other  at  their  respective  capitals. 
All  together  things  did  not  look  pleasant  for  Alexander  II. 

On  the  night  of  May  22  the  Russians  made  two  sorties  from 
Sebastopol,  which  were  repulsed,  and  the  Allies  retorted  by  an  expedi- 
tion, destroying  several  military  establishments  and  occupying  the  Sea 
of  Azof,  thus  leaving  the  Russians  but  one  base  of  supplies  and  greatly 
crippling  their  enemies.  In  the  meantime  also  the  Turks  induced  the 
Circassians  to  revolt.  Finally,  June  7,  after  all  the  weary  months  which 
had  elapsed  from  the  previous  autumn,  the  French  took  by  assault  three 
redoubts,  and  on  the  i8th  the  French  assailed  the  Malakof,  while  the 
English  charged  the  Redan.  They  failed  to  carry  these  works,  being 
repulsed  with  a  loss  of  over  three  thousand  men. 

The  Russians  displayed  a  tenacious  bravery  and  reckless  intrepidity 
which  set  at  naught  the  most  strenuous  efforts  of  the  Allies  to  rout 
them  from  their  position.  They  thus  maintained  themselves  against 
English,  French  and  Italians  until  the  loth  of  September,  when  Sebas- 
topol fell  after  a  siege  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  days.  The  last 
twenty-eight  days  of  the  siege  the  Russians  lost  eighteen  thousand  men. 
A  million  and  a  half  bullets,  bombs,  shells  and  grenades  had  been  thrown 
into  the  town.  The  French  had  dug  fifty  miles  of  trenches  and  over  four 
thousand  feet  of  mines  before  one  bastion  alone.  They  had  pushed 
their  lines  to  one  hundred  feet  of  the  Malakof. 

The  Evacuation  of  Sebastopol. 

The  firing  was  so  heavy  that  it  was  distinctly  heard  for  a  distance 
of  sixty-two  miles.  Under  this  fusillade  the  Russian  bastions  crumbled, 
bomb-proofs  were  smashed,  and  their  gunners  fell  by  hundreds  while 


220  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS. 

serving  their  pieces.  The  garrison  was  so  hard  pressed  that  they  had 
no  longer  time  to  repair  breaches  made  by  the  batteries.  As  many 
as  seventy  thousand  projectiles  were  fired  into  the  town  in  a  single  day. 
Finally,  on  the  8th  of  September,  the  batteries  suddenly  ceased  firing 
at  twelve  o'clock,  and  the  French  threw  themselves  on  the  Malakof, 
gaining  a  lodgment  and  holding  their  position  in  spite  of  all  efforts  ta 
drive  them  out.  Sebastopol  was  no  longer  tenable  and  the  following 
day  the  evacuation  began,  the  Russians  burning  and  blowing  up  every- 
thing in  their  rear,  retreating  to  the  north  side  of  the  harbor. 

Russia  did  not  yet,  however,  seem  ready  to  submit,  and  the  Emperor 
Alexander  encouraged  bravery  in  his  troops  by  staying  with  the  army. 
But  it  could  no  longer  be  disguised  that  Russia  must  have  peace.  The 
war  had  cost  250,000  men,  the  banks  paid  only  in  paper  money,  and 
the  public  refused  that  of  the  government.  Public  credit  was  at  the 
lowest  ebb.  Finally  a  Congress  was  called  to  meet  at  Paris  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1856. 

France,  England,  Austria,  Prussia,  Sardinia,  Turkey  and  Russia 
were  parties  to  it.  A  peace  was  signed  on  the  30th  of  March  following, 
by  the  terms  of  which  Russia  renounced  her  exclusive  right  of  protec- 
tion over  the  Danubian  Principalities,  and  all  interference  with  their 
internal  affairs.  The  free  navigation  of  the  Danube  was  to  be  secured 
by  the  establishment  of  a  Commission  in  which  all  the  contracting 
parties  should  be  represented.  Each  of  them  should  have  the  right  to 
station  two  sloops  of  war  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Russia  consented 
to  a  rectification  of  frontiers  which  should  leave  to  Turkey  and  Rou- 
mania  all  the  delta  of  the  Danube;  the  Black  Sea  was  made  neutral 
and  her  waters  opened  to  merchant  ships  of  all  nations,  but  men  of 
war  were  forbidden,  whether  of  the  Powers  on  her  coasts  or  of  any 
others.  No  military  or  marine  arsenals  were  to  be  created  there. 
Russia  and  Turkey  could  only  maintain  ten  lightships  to  watch  the  coast. 
The  Sultan  of  Turkey  was  bound  to  permit  free  religious  privileges  to 
his  non-Mussulman  subjects,  but  this  clause  was  not  to  be  construed 
.  to  give  the  Powers  the  right  to  interfere  between  the  Sultan  and  his 
subjects. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  BOSPHORUS.  221 

The  Result  of  the  Crimean  War. 

Thus,  as  the  result  of  the  Crimean  War  and  the  Treaty  of  Paris 
which  formulated  it,  Russia  lost  the  domination  of  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  protectorate  of  the  Eastern  Christians. 

The  fruits  of  the  policy  of  Peter  I,  Catherine  II  and  Alexander  I, 
which  had  aimed  at  unlocking"  Russia  by  a  port  on  the  unfrozen  sea 
were,  therefore,  annihilated  by  this  document.  The  hasty  policy  of 
Nicholas  had  compromised  the  work  of  two  centuries,  and  with  it  lost 
to  Russia  valuable  domains  which  she  was  destined  afterward  to  shed 
much  blood  to  recover. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA 

The  Serfs  Liberated — Internal  Disturbances — Russia  Advances  Into  Asia  Minor — The 
First  Pacific  Port — Relations  Between  Russia  and  the  United  States—War  with 
Turkey — The  Emperor  Assassinated — The  Reign  of  Alexander  III — His  Son  Ascends 
the  Throne. 

ALEXANDER  II  came  to  the  throne  of  a  prostrated  and  humihated 
empire.  The  first  step  necessary  was  the  recuperation,  under 
peace,  but  in  the  effort  to  carry  out  this  benign  poHcy  the  new  Emperor 
was  beset  on  every  hand  by  internal  turmoils  and  foreign  suspicion. 

White  Slavery  Abolished. 

One  of  the  first  things  he  resolved  upon  was  to  carry  out  the 
policy  of  Nicholas  with  reference  to  the  serfs  and  do  what  his  father 
had  desired,  but  could  not  accomplish,  namely,  to  abolish  white  slavery 
altogether.  This  was  accomplished  in  1861.  Internal  disturbances 
recurred  constantly,  and  in  1863  there  was  a  rebellion  by  the  Poles. 
Having  suppressed  this  insurrection  with  some  difficulty,  and  the  road 
to  the  Mediterranean  being  blocked  as  the  result  of  the  Crimean  War, 
Alexander  turned  his  attention  toward  extending  his  empire  in  Asia 
Minor.  The  Caucasus  had  been  pacified  in  1859  by  the  capture  of  the 
famous  Circassian  chief,  Schamyl,  and  those  of  his  people  who  could 
not  abide  by  Russian  rule  migrated  to  Turkey,  where  they  have  ever 
since  formed  one  of  the  most  lawless  and  turbulent  elements  in  the 
motley  empire  of  the  Sultan. 

In  1865  the  Russians  took  the  city  of  Pashkene,  and  the  government 
of  Turkestan  was  established  in  1867.  These  advances  into  Asia  Minor 
greatly  alarmed  England,  and  a  large  percentage  of  the  British  nation 
from  that  day  to  this  has  never  been  able  to  recover  from  the  conviction 
that  Russia's  real  object  was  and  is  to  seize  India.     During  all  these 

222 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA.  223. 

years  the  British  press  has  been  in  a  state  of  periodical  alarm.    Russia, 
however,  has  still  advanced  her  frontiers,  and  in  fact  continues  to  do  so,, 
except  that  at  the  present  moment  the  field  of  operations  is  in  the  Far 
East  instead  of  toward  India,  and  the  Arabian  Gulf. 

Treaty  with  China. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  Alexander  II  made  a  very 
long  step  toward  the  East  when,  in  1858,  he  made  a  treaty  with  China 
which  recognized  the  authority  of  Russia  throughout  all  that  vast 
region  on  the  left  bank  of  the  River  Amor,  clear  to  its  mouth,  near 
which  he  established  the  first  port  on  the  Pacific  at  Vladivostok. 

Perhaps  the  commercial  aspirations  of  the  empire  would  have  been 
satisfied  with  this  achievement  but  for  the  fact  that  during  four  months 
of  the  year  this  port  is  blocked  with  ice,  and  its  possession  did  not 
relieve  Russia  from  the  position  of  a  land-locked  empire. 

America  and  Russia  on  Good  Terms. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Alexander  II  that  the  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  Russia  became  especially  friendly.  This  govern- 
ment and  the  Autocracy  had  always  from  the  start  been  on  good  terms. 
It  is  said  that  even  during  our  revolution  Catherine  II,  with  Frederick 
the  Great,  connived  at  the  loss  of  England's  American  colonies,  and 
had  encouraged  France  to  lend  us  money  and  send  the  fleets  of 
D'Estang,  and  the  army  of  Rochambeau,  which  wound  up  the  conflict 
at  Yorktown.  We  never  had  done  much  business  with  Russia,  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  for  the  first  eighty  or  ninety  years  of  our  exist- 
ence as  an  independent  nation  our  relations  had  been  rather  formal  and 
our  friendship  purely  official  and  perfunctory.  Perhaps  the  fact  that 
England  was  always  opposing  the  aspirations  of  the  Tsar,  we  naturally 
wished  the  Russians  well,  so  long  as  the  recollections  of  our  old  trouble 
with  the  mother  country  rankled  in  the  breasts  of  the  American  people. 

Attitude  of  Russia  During  the  Civil  War. 

When  we  came  face  to  face  with  a  colossal  civil  war  of  our  own,  in 
1861-65,  our  foreign  relations  took  such  a  turn  that  the  American  people? 


224  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA. 

became  the  fast  friends  of  Russia,  and  that  sentiment  has  grown  up  with 
the  present  generation  so  that  the  unfortunate  circumstances  of  the  past 
two  or  three  years  which  have  brought  an  estrangement  gave  public 
sentiment  in  this  country  a  decided  and  unpleasant  shock. 

Hostility  of  the  British  Government. 

The  success  of  the  Union  cause  was  constantly  menaced  by  the 
hostility  of  the  British  Government.  The  English  Prime  Minister  un- 
questionably desired  to  recognize  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The 
commercial  interests  of  Great  Britain  were  greatly  injured  by  the  war. 
At  that  time  she  was  the  principal  manufacturing  nation  of  the  world, 
and  one  of  her  principal  industries  was  in  cotton.  The  spinners  of 
Manchester  clamored  for  raw  material.  The  American  blockade  closed 
the  ports  of  the  Confederacy.  The  cotton  was  locked  up.  The  success 
of  the  Union  also  meant  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  South.  It  was 
believed  that  without  slave  labor  cheap  cotton  could  not  be  produced 
to  supply  English  mills.  Furthermore,  British  investors  bought  mil- 
lions of  dollars'  worth  of  bonds  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  furnishing 
the  Davis  government  in  return  quantities  of  ammunition,  which  found 
its  way  into  the  Southern  States  through  the  blockade  at  Wilmington; 
thus,  for  example,  Lee's  army  left  on  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg 
thousands  of  boxes  of  musket-cartridges  and  shells  in  British  cases.  All 
this  embittered  the  North  toward  England,  and  after  the  war  was  over 
the  people  of  the  South  were  likewise  displeased  because  the  British 
Premier  had  not  done  what  we  feared  he  would  do,  that  is,  lead  the 
way  toward  a  European  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  Richmond  Government. 

Our  ancient  friend,  France,  was  an  empire  under  Louis  Napoleon, 
and  hostile,  having  designs  for  the  extension  of  French  conquests  c'a 
the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Russian  Fleet  Enters  New  York  Bay. 

In  this  predicament,  and  when  the  North  was  so  oppressed,  Alex- 
ander II  came  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  relief  and  sent  to  New  York  and  to 
San  Francisco  a  splendid  fleet,  at  that  time  formidable,  as  compared  with 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA.  225 

the  rest  of  the  world,  and  gave  the  London  and  Paris  governments  to 
understand  that  they  must  keep  their  hands  off  the  American  fight,  or 
else  Russia  must  be  reckoned  with  as  an  active  participant  in  the 
contest. 

This  act  of  Russia  has  never  been  forgotten,  and  when  the  two  and 
a  half  millions  of  young  men  who  had  worn  the  blue  uniform  went 
back  to  the  walks  of  peace,  they  reared  children  who  were  taught  that 
Russia  had  come  to  the  relief  of  the  cause  for  which  their  fathers  fought 
when  help  was  sadly  needed. 

Russia-America  Sold  the  United  States. 

This  was  what  caused  the  friendship  between  the  two  governments 
of  Washington  and  St.  Petersburg, 

In  1867  also,  while  Mr.  Seward  was  still  Secretary  of  State,  Alex- 
ander n  sold  us  all  Russian  America,  that  vast  area  which  added  one- 
third  to  the  territory  of  the  United  States  and  gave  us  command  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  at  the  expense  of  Great  Britain. 

Alexander  H  began  to  construct  the  great  railroad  system  in  Asia 
which  now,  practically  finished,  stretches  seven  thousand  miles  from  the 
Caspian  on  the  west  to  the  Sea  of  Japan  on  the  east. 

Two  Attempts  Upon  the  Czar's  Life, 

However  sagacious  and  amiable  was  the  Tsar,  he  could  not  create 
a  condition  of  loyal  satisfaction  among  his  own  people.  Constant 
attempts  were  made  upon  his  life,  and  April  16,  1866,  he  was  shot  at 
by  a  man  named  Karakozoff  in  St.  Petersburg.  In  the  following  year 
another  attempt  upon  his  life  was  made  by  a  Pole  named  Berezowski, 
while  Alexander  was  in  Paris  on  a  visit  to  Napoleon  III. 

Russo-Turkish  War. 

The  principal  war  of  Alexander's  reign  was  that  with  Turkey,  in 
1877-78.  Ever  since  the  Crimea,  which  had  fastened  Turkish  authority 
upon  the  principalities  of  the  Danube,  which  were  largely  Christian, 
almost  continuous  complaint  was  made  on  account  of  Moslem  persecu- 


226  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA. 

tions.  The  Turkish  Government  either  connived  at,  or  at  least  per- 
mitted, murders,  burnings,  and  all  sorts  of  inhuman  practices  by  her 
officials  and  irregular  troops.  So  loud  became  these  complaints  and  sO' 
frequent  the  outrages  that  the  civilized  world  became  deeply  interested 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Balkan  States,  and  especially  in  the  fate  of  the 
Christians  of  Bulgaria.  Mr.  Gladstone  thundered  against  the  horrible 
Turk.  The  German  court  made  representations  and  Gortskakoff,  the 
Tsar's  Prime  Minister,  threatened.  The  Bulgarian  cry  never  abated. 
Finally  the  Tsar  decided  that  he  would  resort  to  force,  and  at  the  same 
time  no  doubt  flattered  himself  that  the  opportunity  had  at  last  come 
for  seizing  Constantinople  and  opening  a  free  road  to  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Atlantic,  with  a  port  whose  waters  never  froze. 

A  great  army  was  hurled  upon  Turkey,  crossing  the  Danube  in  the 
face  of  fierce  opposition  at  Widim  and  Rusdchuck,  and  pressing  on 
toward  the  Balkan  passes.  Although  successful  at  every  step,  it  was 
no  trifling  matter  to  conquer  the  so-called  "sick  man."  The  Turkish 
army  proved  to  be  made  of  valiant  stuff.  The  losses  were  heavy,  and 
the  winter  found  the  Russians  struggling  in  the  snows  of  Shipka  Pass 
under  Ghourka  and  the  splendid  Skobeleff,  while  Osman  Pasha  held 
Plevna  in  spite  of  the  gallant  assaults  of  the  greatest  army  Russia  ever 
put  in  the  field.  / 

The  Lesson  of  Plevna. 

^  The  assault  upon  Plevna  emphasized  the  lesson  which  military  men 
had  failed  to  thoroughly  learn  before.  It  had  been  seen  that  the  Eng- 
lish and  French  could  not  storm  the  Malakof  and  the  Redans  in  1855  ^ 
Grant's  splendid  army  had  been  repulsed  in  1863,  when  it  tried  to  climb 
the  works  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson;  the  magnificent  charge  by 
moonlight  on  Fort  Wagner  had  only  resulted  in  death  and  destruction 
to  its  assailants,  and  still  the  vast  host  of  Russia  were  sent  forward  by 
its  intrepid  commanders  to  do  the  impossible  at  Plevna. 

The  assault  failed,  as  it  had  failed  at  Sebastopol,  Vicksburg  and 
Wagner.  Military  students  at  last  agreed  upon  the  proposition  that 
a  modern  earthwork  bravely  defended  by  a  competent  force  cannot 
be  carried  by  assault. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA.  227- 

Osman  Pasha  Surrenders. 

The  Russians  settled  down  to  a  long  winter  siege,  and  it  was  months 
later  when  Osman  Pasha  finally  yielded  to  starvation  and  surrendered^ 
The  Russian  force  pressed  forward,  and  in  1878  camped  under  the  walls 
of  Constantinople. 

The  unfrozen  sea  was  in  sight.    A  treaty  was  made  with  Turkey  at 
San  Stefano  only  to  be  torn  to  pieces  at  the  dictation  of  Bismarck  and' 
Disraeli  at  the  Congress  of  the  powers  at  Berlin.     The  result  of  it  all 
was  that  Russia  practically  got  nothing  as  the  reward  of  blood  and*' 
treasure  squandered  in  this  last  attempt  to  expel  the  Turk  from  Europe^ 
The  arrangement  of  the  Balkan  States  then  made  still  exists.     Bulgaria 
was  divided,  the  southern  portion  being  formed  into  the  province  of 
Eastern  Roumelia,  with  a  Christian  Governor  to  be  appointed  by  the^ 
Porte.    Austria  acquired  a  Protectorate  over  Bosnia  and  Hercegovina. . 
Servia  and   Montenegro  remained  independent,  while   Macedonia   and '. 
Albania  were  still  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Turk. 

Russia  was  more  fortunate,  however,  in  Asia,  gaining  considerably 
in  area  of  possessions,  pressing  her  conquests  up  to  the  very  frontier' 
of  Afghanistan,  to  the  disgust  of  the  Court  of  St.  James.  In  fact,  the 
cry,  "The  Russians  at  the  gates  of  Herat,"  almost  became  a  slogan  of 
battle,  and  Great  Britain  and  Russia  for  years  thereafter  trembled  upon 
the  brink  of  war. 

Growth  of  the  Revolutionary  Movement. 

The  growth  of  the  Nihilist  or  secretl  revolutionary  party  in  Russia' 
was  extremely  rapid  during  the  latter  part  of  Alexander's  reign,  and' 
all  efforts  to  suppress  these  societies  effectually  seemed  to  come  to- 
nothing.    A  third  attempt  was  made  upon  the  life  of  the  Emperor  when^ . 
April  14,  1879,  a  man  named  Solovioff  shot  at  him.    The  same  year  an/ 
effort  was  made  to  wreck  the  train  by  which  the  Tsar  was  traveling 
from  Moscow  to  St.  Petersburg.     Finally,  as  the  result  of  a  conspiracy^ 
he  was  murdered  March  13,  1881,  by  the  explosion  of  a  dynamite  bomb 
thrown  at  his  sleigh,  while  driving  in  the  Newsky  Prospect  in  St.  Peters— 


228  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA. 

burg.  Although  horribly  mangled,  he  Hved  to  speak  to  the  miscreant 
who  threw  the  infernal  machine  and  some  hours  later  expired,  sur- 
rounded by  his  family. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  a  man  whose  life  was  one  of  turmoil  and 
trouble  from  the  start  of  his  reign.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  wished 
to  do  the  best  possible  for  his  country,  and  having  freed  the  serfs  he 
was  actually  upon  the  point  of  proclaiming  a  constitutional  government 
at  the  very  time  when  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  mad  policy  of  those  im- 
placable theorists  who  believe  that  the  killing  of  lawful  rulers  is  the 
sure  way  to  the  cure  of  human  ills. 

Alexander  III  Ascends  the  Throne. 

Alexander  III  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and,  while  an  amiable  man, 
he  lacked  the  comprehensive  views  of  his  predecessor.  He  pressed 
forward  the  work  of  constructing  the  Trans-Caspian  railway,  but  other- 
wise he  was  chiefly  occupied  in  his  self-appointed  mission  to  more 
thoroughly  establish  throughout  the  empire  the  Holy  Orthodox  Greek 
Church  of  Russia.  In  keeping  with  this  plan,  he  endeavored  through- 
•out  his  reign  to  keep  all  power  in  his  own  hands,  and  to  control  abso- 
lutely his  ministers.  He  found  the  task  of  personally  governing  an 
empire  stretching  one-third  the  way  round  the  earth  to  be  a  task  beyond 
human  endurance.  The  efifart  killed  him  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood. 
Although  naturally  a  giant  in  stature,  he  had  been  endowed  with 
physical  strength  unsurpassed  by  any  man  of  his  generation.  In  his 
private  life,  the  Emperor  was  an  exemplary  man.  He  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  King  of  Denmark,  a  sister  of. the  present  Queen  of  England, 

and  King  of  Greece. 

Character  of  the  Czar. 

In  religion  he  was  not  only  devout  but  almost  a  fanatic.  He  allowed 
the  idea  of  church  supremacy  to  take  sueh  possession  of  him  that, 
though  of  a  kindly  disposition,  he  was  led  into  persecution  against  Jews, 
Lutherans,  Mennonites,  and  other  non-conformists.  He  carried  the 
matter  so  far  that  people  were  sent  into  exile  because  of  religious  in- 
subordination.    The  Emperor  was,  .no  doubt,  well  meaning  and  con- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UNFROZEN  SEA.  229 

scientious,  but,  as  a  Russian  writer  has  said,  he  was  like  an  apothecary 
who  should  dispense  strychnine  for  quinine,  and  whose  conscientiousness 
could  not  save  the  victim  of  his  mistake.  The  result  was  that  the  most 
kind-hearted  of  men  became  a  cruel  persecutor.  One  of  the  Emperor's 
decisions  that  bore  very  hard  upon  a  large  number  of  respectable  fam- 
ilies was  not  to  permit  the  employment  of  any  but  Orthodox  Russians 
in  positions  of  responsibility,  and  especially  upon  railroads,  where,  by 
superior  education  and  intelligence,  a  large  proportion  of  emploj-ees 
such  as  inspectors,  station-masters,  conductors  and  engineers  were 
Poles,  Germans  from  the  Baltic  Provinces,  and  other  non-conformists. 
As  the  railroads  in  Russia  are  under  government  control,  the  lines  were 
drawn  closer  and  closer  until  these  offensive  religionists  were  finally 
all  dismissed.  One  of  the  last  roads  upon  which  the  un-Orthodox  were 
discharged  to  make  places  for  members  of  the  State  Church  was  the 
road  to  Smolensk,  and  soon  after  it  happened  a  plot  was  discovered  to 
blow  up  the  Tsar's  train  on  this  line.     This  was  in  1894. 

Enter  Nicholas  II. 
The  discovery  of  this  mine  was  a  mere  accident,  but  the  inquiries 
that  followed  showed  a  carefully-laid  plot,  in  which  numerous  con- 
spirators had  planned  to  kill  the  Tsar,  and,  without  exception,  these 
conspirators  were  found  to  be  Orthodox  Russian  officials.  It  was  for 
tliese  men  that  the  Tsar  had  caused  to  be  dismissed  the  mistrusted* 
Poles  and  Germans.  The  discovery  of  this  fact,  which  was  established 
beyond  a  doubt,  dispelled  in  a  moment  the  fondest  illusions  which  had 
controlled  the  policy  of  Alexander's  administration  from  the  first.  The 
discovery  killed  him.  His  health  began  to  fail,  and  he  sank  day  by  day 
under  a  complication  of  ailments  which  had  their  origin  in  the  moral 
afflictions  caused  by  a  sense  of  realization  that  all  he  had  done  had  been 
for  nothing.  He  had  persecuted,  exiled,  banished,  punished,  and  sup- 
pressed and  oppressed  his  people  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  and  then 
it  was  an  empty  disappointment.  This  failure  of  an  honest  man  was 
pathetic.  Finally  he  died,  at  Lividia,  having  as  the  most  consoling  thing 
in  his  latter  days  arranged  for  the  happy  marriage  of  his  son  Nicholas 
II,  who  succeeded  him  November  1,  1895. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  ' 

NICHOLAS   II 

A  Puny  Boy — Falls  in  Love  with  a  Ballet  Dancer — Travels  Abroad — Attempted  Assassi- 
nation— The  Meaning  of  Loyalty — The  Mikado  Orders  the  Would-be  Murderer  to  be 
Executed — ^Marriage — Coronation — A  Disciple  of  Peace — ^Finland — Character  of  Nich- 
olas n. 

WE  HAVE  now  traced  the  history  of  Russia  briefly  but  as  com- 
pletely as  the  space  allotted  in  this  work  will  allow.  We  have 
seen  at  the  dawn  of  historical  records  the  beginnings  of  the  Slavs  when 
they  were  simply  barbarous  tribes.  We  have  watched  the  Asiatic 
migrations  of  antiquity  and  those  of  the  Middle  Ages  when  the  hordes 
of  Genghis-Khan  and  Tamerlane  overran  the  country,  leaving  the  Tartar 
imprint  upon  the  nation  and  its  institutions.  We  have  traced  the  line 
-of  Rurik  and  then  the  rise  of  Moscow,  and  the  family  of  Michael 
J^omanoff. 

A  New  Conflict  for  an  Old  Goal. 

We  have  followed  the  course  of  the  expansion  of  the  empire;  of  its 
^advance  into  Asia  toward  the  East  and  toward  the  South ;  its  struggles 
"with  Poland  and  the  Teutonic  peoples  on  the  West;  the  aspirations  for 
the  unlocking  of  the  empire,  and  the  efforts  to  reach  an  unfrozen  sea; 
the  battles  with  the  Turk;  the  hostility  of  Western  Europe,  and  the 
triumphs  of  arms  and  diplomacy  which  have  resulted  in  almost  reaching 
the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Mediterranean 
on  the  other,  and  now  we  come  to  the  present  Emperor,  and  we  find 
him  against  his  will,  it  must  be  said,  in  the  midst  of  a  new  conflict 
Aor  the  same  old  goal — a  harbor  without  ice. 

When  Nicholas  Alexandrovitch  came  to  the  throne  of  the  Roman- 
•ofifs,  November  i,  1895,  ^^  was  in  his  twenty-sixth  year  and  little  was 
Iknown  of  him,  except  that  in  personal  appearance  he  was  almost  the- 

230 


NICHOLAS  II.  231 

-exact  eounterpart  of  his  cousin,  the  present  Prince  oif  Wales.  In  fact, 
these  two  young  men  looked  so  much  alike  that  the  photograph  of  one 
could  scarcely  be  told  from  the  other,  unless  they  wore  their  decora- 
tions. Presumably  they  are  not  unlike  in  character,  as  their  mothers 
were  sisters. 

Family  Life  of  a  Czar. 

The  etiquette  which  prevails  in  Russia  forbids  the  publication  of 
much  about  the  private  life  of  the  family  of  a  czar.  It  is  known,  how- 
ever, that  Alexander  brought  up  his  children  in  the  strictest  manner. 
Their  domestic  life  was  quiet,  and  as  unobtrusive  as  that  of  any  well- 
to-do  citizen.  We  have  seen  how  strict  a  churchman  was  Alexander 
III,  and  his  religion  was  not  perfunctory.  He  was  not  only  devout 
himself,  but  his  habits  coincided  with  his  belief,  and  control  the  morals 
of  his  household.  Then,  too,  the  Danish  princess  who  was  his  wife  was 
a  most  exemplary  woman.  Fler  children  were  all  in  all  to  her,  and  her 
influence,  coupled  with  the  severe  restrictions  of  the  father,  resulted  in 
making  the  young  grand  dukes  men  of  good  habits  and  uncompromising 
mdral  convictions.  Unfortunately,  the  Czarina  was  endowed  with  a 
delicate  constitution,  which  her  children  inherited,  rather  than  the 
strong  physique  of  their  father.  Thus  it  happened  that  Nicholas  was 
a  rather  puny  boy,  while  his  brother  George  was  consumptive.  Their 
delicate  condition  doubtless  was  aggravated  by  the  ideas  of  their  father, 
which  led  him  to  adopt  for  his  children  customs  which  he  considered 
necessary  to  harden  them.  They  were  caused  to  expose  themselves  in 
inclement  weather,  and  to  engage  in  constant  and  laborious  exercise, 
which  overtaxed  their  strength. 

The  Youth  of  Nicholas. 

Once  a  year  the  entire  family  was  taken  to  visit  their  grandparents 
at  Copenhagen,  and  these  were  holiday  times  for  the  boys,  who,  as  they 
came  to  young  manhood  and  were  old  enough  to  appear  in  society, 
made  the  most  of  the  opportunity.  One  of  the  few  stories  published 
about  the  present  Czar  is  to  the  effect  that  once  at  a  ball  at  Copen- 
hagen he  invited  a  lady  to  waltz.     The  youth  kept  on  and  on,  whirling 


232  NICHOLAS  11. 

round  the  floor,  until  the  lady  was  upon  the  point  of  fainting.  The 
young  man  finally  realized  that  he  was  overtaxing  his  partner,  and  led 
her  to  a  seat,  when  he  said  in  apology,  ''Excuse  me.  Countess,  I 
wanted  to  show  that  the  Crown  Prince  of  Russia  is  not  weak," 

His  inexperience  in  society  naturally  led  the  young  man  to  a  very 
early  and  awkward  love  affair.  There  is  no  question  about  it  that  he 
was  desperately  smitten.  The  object  of  his  love  was  a  ballet  dancer, 
and,  oh  horrors,  a  Jewess !  It  seems  the  young  lady  was  not  only 
beautiful  and  charming  in  face  and  manner,  but  of  an  unquestioned 
character  for  virtue. 

His  First  Love  Affair. 

The  young  man  was  in  trouble.  He  could  not  marry  outside  of  the 
royal  blood,  without  the  formal  consent  of  his  father,  and  he  hastened 
to  St.  Petersburg  to  lay  the  matter  before  his  royal  parent.  He  pro- 
posed to  follow  the  example  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  brother  of 
Alexander  I,  who  had  renounced  the  throne  for  the  Polish  Countess, 
Janet  Grudinsky.  He  preferred  his  Jewish  ballet  dancer  to  the  crown. 
He  desired  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  brother  George. 

Naturally  his  father  would  not  listen  to  the  proposition.  All  his 
life  he  had  regarded  a  Jew  with  horror.  Furthermore,  it  was  not 
possible  to  put  George  upon  the  throne  on  account  of  his  declining 
health.  Consumption  had  early  marked  him  as  its  inevitable  victim. 
The  young  man  was  commanded  to  give  up  his  Jewess  and  prepare 
himself  for  the  duties  and  troubles  which  are  the  lot  of  a  Czar  of 
Russia,  and  to  contemplate  only  a  marriage  in  due  time  which  should 
accord  with  the  demands  of  the  state. 

Travels  in  Foreign  Lands. 

In  order  to  distract  his  mind  and  wean  him  from  this  ill-considered 
love  affair,  it  was  decided  to  send  him  abroad.  This  trip  resulted  in 
two  very  important  things — one  was  that  he  almost  lost  his  life  in 
Japan;  the  second,  that  he  had  an  opportunity  to  travel  clear  across 
his  empire,  a  circumstance  which  makes  him  the  first  Tsar  w^ho  has 
ever  seen  his  far  eastern  possessions.     He  was  accompanied  on  this 


NICHOLAS  II.  233 

trip  by  Prince  George  of  Greece,  his  cousin,  and  by  Prince  Ouchtomsky, 
who  has  written  an  account  of  the  tour. 

The  party  visited  Kioto,  the  old  capital  of  Japan,  and  spent  the 
morning  in  an  excursion  to  Otzu,  taking  luncheon  with  the  prefect  of  the 
district  in  that  little  town,  and,  as  ordinary  carriages  could  not  be  used 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  they  started  to  return  to  Kioto  in  jin- 
rikshas. 

This  vehicle  is  a  small  cart,  drawn  by  a  man,  and  is  a  common 
means  of  conveyance  in  Japan.  Up  to  this  point  the  tour  had  been 
uneventful  and  much  like  that  which  is  experienced  by  the  ordinary 
traveler.  What  happened  is  best  told  in  a  letter  of  Prince  George  of 
Greece  to  his  father,  which  tells  the  story  of  that  eventful  day,  May  11, 
1891.  It  was  one  of  those  days  when  the  destinies  of  nations  hang  upon 
a  very  slender  thread. 

A  Thrilling  Incident. 

Prince  George  writes:  "We  passed  through  a  narrow  street,  dec- 
orated with  Ra.gs  and  filled  with  crowds  of  people  on  both  sides  of  the 
thoroughfare.  I  was  looking  toward  the  left  when  I  suddenly  heard 
something  like  a  shriek  in  front  of  me  and  saw  a  policeman  hitting 
Nicky  a  blow  on  the  head  with  a  sword,  which  he  held  in  both  hands. 
Nicky  jumped  out  of  the  jinriksha  and  the  man  ran  after  him;  Nicky 
with  b'ood  streaming  down  his  face.  When  I  saw  this,  I  too  jumped 
out  with  my  stick  in  my  hand  and  ran  after  the  man,  who  was  about 
fifteen  yards  in  front  of  me.  Nicky  ran  into  a  shop,  but  came  out 
immediately,  which  enabled  the  man  to  overtake  him;  but  I,  thank 
God,  I  was  there  in  the  same  moment,  and  while  the  policeman  still 
had  his  sword  high  in  the  air,  I  gave  him  a  blow  straight  on  the  head, 
a  blow  so  hard  that  he  has  probably  never  experienced  a  similar  one 
before.  He  now  turned  against  me,  but  fainted  and  fell  to  the  ground; 
then  two  of  our  jinriksha  pullers  appeared  on  the  scene,  one  got  hold 
of  his  legs  while  the  other  took  up  the  sword  which  he  had  dropped 
in  falling  and  gave  him  a  wound  in  the  back  of  his  head.  It  is  God 
who  placed  me  there  at  that  moment,  and  gave  me  strength  to  deal 
the  blow;  for  had  I  been  a  little  later  the  policeman  had  perhaps  ctrt 


^34  NICHOLAS  II. 

off  Nicky's  head,  and  had  my  blow  missed  the  assailant's  head  he  would 
have  cut  off  mine.  The  whole  thing  happened  so  quickly  that  the  others 
who  were  behind  had  seen  nothing  of  the  whole  affair.  Nicky  sat  down; 
Doctor  Plambach  bandaged  the  wound  as  well  as  he  could,  and  then 
escorted  by  soldiers  who  had  in  the  meantime  been  called,  we  drove 
him  back  to  the  Governor's  house.  A  firmer  bandage  was  put  on,  and 
we  remained  in  the  house  about  an  hour  and  a  half.  I  must  say  I 
admire  Nicky's  pluck.  He  did  not  faint  a  single  time,  nor  did  he  lose 
his  good  spirits  for  a  moment,  and  yet  he  had  two  large  wounds  in  the 
head  above  the  ear.  The  one  wound  was  five  centimeters  long,  the 
other  six,  and  both  had  penetrated  to  the  skull,  but  luckily  got  no 
further."     It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  episode  made  a  sensation. 

The  Festivities  Abandoned. 

It  appears  that  the  policeman  who  committed  the  outrage  was  an 
old  sergeant-major  who  had  been  decorated  for  gallant  service  and  was 
much  trusted.  He  seems  to  have  been  very  much  prejudiced  against 
foreigners  generally,  but  above  all  he  hated  Russians. 

When  the  party  got  back  to  the  Governor's  house  at  Kioto  there 
was  the  wildest  excitement.  The  Russian  ambassador,  who  was  with 
him,  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Crown  Prince  with  a  cry  of  horror, 
but  the  young  man  raised  him  quietly,  saying,  "Do  not  be  anxious;  it 
is  only  blood," 

The  grand  festivities  at  the  Russian  embassy  and  the  Japanese 
court,  which  had  been  planned,  were,  of  course,  abandoned.  The  sister 
of  Marion  Crawford,  the  author,  Mrs.  Hugh  Frazer,  wrote  a  letter  at 
the  time  which  has  been  published,  which  shows  the  condition  of  things 
at  this  juncture. 

The  Solicitude  of  the  Empress. 

Mrs.  Frazer  writes :  "As  yet  no  one  knew  whether  a  riot  had  taken 
place,  whether  the  ambassador  who  was  with  the  prince  was  hurt,  but 
to  tell  the  truth,  I  do  not  believe  those  two  loyal  women  could  have 
suffered  more  anguish  of  soul  even  had  he  been  killed.  I  learned  for 
the  first  time  what  loyalty  meant;  with  what  a  passion  of  devotion  the 


NICHOLAS  II.  235 

l)lood  of  some  races  leaps  to  the  call,  mad  to  be  spilt  for  the  sovereign 
and  his  family.  My  poor  friends  were  utterly  prostrated  by  the  blow, 
which  had  fallen  some  two  hours  before  I  reached  them.  They  had 
wept  till  they  could  weep  no  more,  and  Vera  S.,  a  most  charming  and 
brilliant  girl,  was  raging  up  and  down  the  room,  crying,  *0,  our  Prince, 
our  Prince.     God  have  mercy  on  our  Prince !' 

"Meanwhile  there  was  one  person  who  could  do  nothing  to  help  the 
poor  young  prince  or  to  punish  his  assailant.  The  valiant,  gentle 
Empress  forgot  all  the  repressions  of  her  upbringing,  all  the  superb 
calm  which,  as  due  to  her  Tank,  she  had  shown  in  every  circumstance 
of  her  life,  and  all  that  wretched  night  she  walked  up  and  down  her 
room,  weeping  her  heart  out  in  a  flood-tide  of  grief.  'The  poor  mother,' 
she  wailed,  'she  cannot  see  her  boy!  She  will  not  believe  he  is  safe! 
Poor  mother!  How  can  I  comfort  her?'  And  she  sent  telegram  after 
telegram  to  the  Czarina,  assuring  her  of  the  profound,  heartbroken 
sympathy  with  which  she,  the  Empress  of  Japan,  regarded  her  trouble, 
and  promising  that  the  Czarevitch  should  be  nursed  and  tended  as  if  his 
-mother  were  with  him. 

A  Prince  and  a  Gentleman. 

"The  young  man  behaved  all  through  like  a  prince  and  a  gentleman, 
not  the  slightest  sign  of  rancor  ever  appeared  in  his  voice  or  manner, 
and  when,  at  his  parents'  command  (it  is  said,  at  his  mother's  entreaty), 
he  gave  up  the  rest  of  his  Japanese  tour,  and  was  carried  back  on  board 
of  his  own  ship  to  be  nursed,  he  softened  the  act  by  every  kind  word 
that  could  possibly  be  used.  Thanking  the  Emperor  of  Japan  warmly 
for  all  his  kindness,  he  assured  him  how  great  a  deprivation  it  was  for 
him  not  to  visit  the  imperial  family  at  Tokio  because,  'For  reasons  of 
health,  he  was  still  somewhat  weak,  and  it  was  considered  better  that 
lie  should  return  to  Russia  at  once.'  The  public  grief  was  profound 
and  universal,  the  theatres  were  closed,  the  shops  and  markets  aban- 
doned. The  Emperor  had  pledged  his  honor  for  the  safety  of  the  Prince, 
€very  reasonable  precaution  had  been  taken,  but  the  insult  and  outrage 
-that  had  befallen  the  Emperor's  guest  was  felt  to  be  a  national  dishonor. 


236  NICHOLAS  II. 

Spontaneously  the  people  thought  what  could  they  do  to  testify  to  the 
wounded  Czarevitch  their  sympathy  and  sorrow.  From  all  parts  of  the 
country  came  presents,  until  every  part  of  the  Czarevitch's  ship  was 
encumbered  with  gifts.  Poor  men  walked  days  to  bring  their  little  offer- 
ing. Rich  men  sent  precious  heirlooms,  with  messages  of  love  and 
respect." 

This  letter  of  Mrs.  Frazer  was  written  from  Kioto  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  incident  it  described. 

A  Royal  InvaKd. 

The  Emperor  of  Japan  sent  word  to  the  judges  that  the  would-be 
murderer  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Russia  must  be  executed.  But  this 
they  flatly  refused  to  do,  because  the  Japanese  constitution  and  laws 
forbid  any  special  punishment  for  assault  upon  one  person  more  than 
upon  another.  Hence,  ten  years'  imprisonment  was  the  limit  which 
could  be  inflicted. 

The  ship  upon  which  the  royal  invalid  was  nursed  landed  him  a 
month  later  at  Vladivostok.  There  he  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  eastern 
branch  of  the  Trans-Siberian  railroad,  and  journeyed  home  overland  by 
train  and  boat  and  coach  clear  across  Siberia.  This  is  how  it  happens 
that  he  is  the  first  czar  who  ever  set  foot  upon  the  Pacific  frontiers  of 
his  empire,  or  who  has  had  by  personal  knowledge  a  comprehension 
of  the  extent  of  his  dominions. 

By  this  time  It  is  said  that  he  had  been  cured  of  his  Infatuation  for 

the  ballet  dancer,  and  upon  his  return  home  his  father  became  very 

anxious  that  he  should  find  a  suitable  wife  among  the  princesses  of 

Europe. 

Looking  for  a  Wife. 

The  Princess  Elena  of  Montenegro  was  discussed  first  as  a  suitable 
person,  but  the  young  people  most  interested  did  not  seem  to  take  to 
each  other,  and,  as  is  well  known,  the  Princess  Elena  became  the  bride 
of  the  then  Crown  Prince  of  Italy,  and  became  the  Queen  of  that  coun- 
try and  the  mother  of  a  promising  family. 

In  the  meantime  Nicholas  began  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the 


NICHOLAS  II.  217 

affairs  of  the  empire,  being  appointed  at  the  head  of  a  committee  to 
provide  relief  during  the  great  famine,  and^taking  a  prominent  position 
in  all  that  concerned  the  great  railroads,  both  those  being  built  and  those 
projected,  throughout  the  empire,  but  his  father,  fearing  the  early  end 
of  his  career,  would  not  allow  the  young  man  to  forget  the  all-important 
matter  of  a  wife.  At  first  he  seems,  to  have  been,  to  say  the  least,  very 
indifferent,  but  when,  not  long  after  his  return  from  the  East,  he  went 
to  attend  the  marriage  of  his  cousin  Marie,  at  Gotha,  to  the  heir-pre- 
sumptive of  the  King  of  Roumania,  he  met  the  Princess  Alix,  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt,  his  second  cousin.  She  was  the  niece,  by  marriage,  of  his 
aunt,  the  Grand  Duchess  Marie,  wife  of  the  English  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha.  The  Grand  Duchess  was  a  very  skillful  woman,  who 
numbered  among  her  amusements  that  of  match-making.  Observing 
that  the  young  Czarevitch  seemed  to  be  impressed  by  the  beauty,  dignity 
and  good  sense  of  the  Princess  Alix,  she  did  her  best  to  throw  them 
together,  no  doubt,  with  the  ultimate  view  of  their  marriage. 

Nicholas  Goes  "A-Courting." 

Alexander  III,  being  informed  of  the  state- of  affairs,  and  well  know- 
ing that  there  was  the  making  of  a  very  desirable  daughter-in-law  in 
the  person  of  this  yTOung  Anglo-German  girl,  likewise  contributed  to  the 
management  of  the  courtship.  He  had  favored  the  Princess  Elena  of 
Montenegro,  becaiise  she  was  of  Orthodox  faith,  but,  content  v*ith  the 
way  things  were  working  out,  he  urged  his  son  to  go  to  Darmstadt  and 
visit  the  Princess  Alix  in  her  own  home.  Of  course  the  young  man 
readily  found  time  for  so  pleasant  a  mission,  with  the  result  that  he 
proposed  to  the  young  lady,  but  she  refused  at  first  to  give  a  positive 
answer. 

She  was  the  dau^ghter  of  the  Princess  Alice  of  England,  who,  al- 
though a  member  of  one  of  the  richest  royal  families  in  Europe,  had 
passed  her  life  as  wife  and  mother  at  the  home  of  a  German  duke,  in 
poverty  at  times  so  extreme  that  she  was  unable  even  to  hire  a  ser^-ant 
to  help  rear  her  children  and  tend  to  the  ordinary  duties  of  house- 
keeping. 


238  NICHOLAS  II. 

Married  and  Crowned. 

The  Princess  Alix,  brought  up  amid  these  surroundings,  had  nat- 
urally never  been  given  to  fashionable  frivoHty,  but  had  been  educated 
by  her  mother  with  a  full  knowledge  of  domestic  duties,  and  she  was, 
withal,  very  devout,  and  a  Protestant.  She  knew  that  to  become 
Czarina  she  must  embrace  the  Orthodox  faith  of  the  Greek  Catholic 
Church,  and  she  did  not  believe  at  first  that  she  could  conscientiously 
do  this.  The  result  was  that  she  hesitated  for  months,  and  all  the 
time  the  Czar  was  growing  weaker  and  daily  more  anxious  to  see  his- 
son  properly  settled  before  his  death.  Finally  the  Princess  was  per- 
suaded to  visit  the  Czar  and  discuss  the  matter  with  him.  The  dying 
Emperor  wished  to  know  more  about  the  young  woman,  and  she,  on 
her  part,  wished  to  know  more  fully  what  her  duties  would  be,  should 
she  obey  the  impulses  of  her  heart  and  consent  to  marry  the  Crown^ 
Prince.  The  result  of  the  visit  was  that  the  Princess  consented,  to  the 
great  relief  and  satisfaction  of  Alexander.  In  due  time  she  was  ad- 
mitted to  membership  of  the  Orthodox  Church,  was  married,  and 
crowned.  Upon  her  admission  to  the  church,  it  was  necessary  for  the 
Princess  to  assume  a  new  name,  and  she  took  that  of  Alexandra 
Feodorovna.  This  is  the  name  by  which  she  will  be  known  in  history,. 
and  was  doubtless  selected  in  honor  of  her  aunt  by  marriage,  the  present 
Queen  of  England.  Within  a  year  after  their  marriage,  which  was 
celebrated  without  ostentation  soon  after  Alexander's  death,  a  child 
was  born,  but,  unfortunately  for  the  Russian  throne,  it  was  a  girl. 
She  was  named  Olga,  and  two  other  children  have  since  followed,  both 
girls. 

Head  of  Church  and  State. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  son  of  Catherine  II  caused  the 
Russian  throne  to  be  barred  in  future  to  women,  so  long  as  there  lived 
a  male  member  of  the  family.  To  show  how  things  are  planned  in 
royal  circles,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  when  Queen  Victoria  saw  her 
little  Russian  great-granddaughter  she  at    once    announced    that    she 


NICHOLAS  II.  2-9- 

should  marry,  when  grown  up  to  the  proper  age,  her  great-grandson, 
the  son  of  the  present  Prince  of  Wales,  at  that  time,  of  course,  Duke 
of  York. 

The  coronation  of  the  Czar  of  Russia  is  not  only  a  stately  ceremonial, 
but  a  religious  institution.  The  Czar  becomes  not  only  the  head  of  the 
state,  but  since  Peter  the  Great  he  is  also  the  Pope  of  the  Orthodox 
Russian  Greek  Church.  He  is  the  Supreme  High  Priest,  as  well  as 
absolute  monarch. 

The  coronation  ceremonies  occurred,  as  they  always  must  in  Russia, 
at  Moscow,  May  26,  1896.  This  ceremony  has  been  so  often  and  so 
fully  described  that  we  will  not  give  space  to  the  subject  here. 

A  Zealous  Monarch. 

The 'young  Czar  set  to  work  at  once  to  improve  the  internal  affairs 
of  his  empire.  Upon  the  birth  of  his  first  child  he  forbade  religious 
persecutions,  and  he  busied  himself  with  pushing  to  completion  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  and  in  extending  the  canal  system  of  Russia 
in  Europe.  He  cultivated  intimate  relations  with  Persia,  and  with  the 
Ameer  of  Afghanistan,  with  a  view  to  extending  Russian  influence  in  the 
territory  crossed  by  the  road  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  He  finally  became 
practically  master  of  Persia,  through  diplomacy  and  financial  operations^ 
and  this  influence  seems  to  be  unimpaired  up  to  the  present  time. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  Nicholas  desired  peace  from  the  start. 
All  who  came  in  contact  with  him  testified  to  their  conviction  that  he 
was  earnest  and  honest  in  his  abhorrence  of  war.  One  of  the  first  and 
most  important  acts  of  his  reign  was  to  enter  upon  an  agitation  looking 
to  disarmament  and  the  cutting  down  of  the  vast  standing  armies  at 
present  maintained  by  the  continental  powers  of  Europe  This  led  to 
his  call  for  the  Peace  Congress  held  at  The  Hague  in  the  summer  of 
1899,  at  which  both  England  and  the  United  States  were  represented, 
although  at  that  moment  we  had  a  war  on  hand  in  the  Philippines,  and' 
Cecil  Rhodes  and  Joseph  Chamberlain  were  getting  ready  to  pounce 
iipon  the  Dutch  of  South  Africa. 


240  NICHOLAS  11. 

The  Czar's  Peace  Congress. 

Whether  the  world  does  not  really"^  desire  to  settle  international 
disputes  by  a  lawsuit,  and  really  prefers  to  fight  occasionally,  at  any 
rate  the  Czar's  Peace  Congress  did  not  come  to  much.  The  nations 
would  not  agree  to  disarm.  Some  resolutions  were  passed,  but  that  is 
about  all.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  possibility  of  international  arbi- 
tration in  a  certain  class  of  cases  has  been  realized,  and  it  is  to  the  credit 
of  the  Czar  that  he  gave  the  movement  first  impetus  which,  while  at 
this  date,  not  promising  a  secure  guarantee  of  peace,  has  opened  the 
way  and  led  to  some  advance  toward  such  an  end.  The  Czar  was 
greatly  disappointed  when  the  world  in  general  did  not  accept  his 
proposition  seriously.  Still,  this  court  promises  to  be  of  great  use  in 
secondary  matters,  and,  indeed,  England  and  France  have  gone  so  far 
as  to  make  a  treaty  providing  that  a  certain  class  of  international  ques- 
tions affecting  these  two  countries  at  least  shall  be  referred  to  this 
tribunal.  We  have  seen  how  President  Roosevelt  compelled  England, 
France  and  Italy  to  carry  one  question  regarding  the  claims  against 
Venezuela  to  this  court.  We  have  also  found  Mexico  paying  a  judg- 
ment for  a  very  large  sum  of  money  in  the  case  of  a  claim  which  had 
been  pending  for  many  years. 

About  this  time  the  Czar's  brother  George,  who,  as  the  next  male, 
was  heir-presumptive  to  the  throne,  died,  and  upon  the  birth  of  a  third 
daughter,  to  the  great  disappointment  of  the  family,  the  title  of  Czare- 
vitch fell  provisionally  to  the  Grand  Duke  Michael,  third  son,  and  young- 
est child  of  Alexander  III.  The  Czar  was  so  depressed  by  these  family 
misfortunes  that  it  is  said  he  actually  contemplated  abdication. 

The  Absorption  of  Finland. 

In  1898  an  Important  step  was  taken  with  relation  to  Finland.  This 
country  which,  by  racial  affinity,  belongs  to  Sweden  rather  than  Russia, 
had  for  a  long  time  been  governed  by  its  own  constitution  and  legisla- 
tive assembly,  the  Czar  of  Russia  being  its  Grand  Duke.  It  is  said 
that  the  Czar's  prime  minister  and  some  other  members  of  the  imperial 


THE  SUBMARINE  TORPEDO  BOAT 

The  lower  photograph  shows  a  battleship  launciiing  a  submarine  boat  from  deck 
preparatory  to  starting  it  on  its  errand  of  death.  This  boat  can  be  propelled  at  great  speed 
while  entirely  submerged,  and  in  this  manner  can  approach  as  near  to  the  ships  of  the  enemy 
as  desired  in  order  to  accurately  discharge  the  deadly  torpedo.  ,       ,      • 

The  upper  picture  shows  this  boat  emerging  from  the  depths  of  the  sea  after  haymg 
attacked  the  enemy.  The  terrible  destruction  worked  by  one  of  these  boata  is  graphically 
pictiu-ed  on  another  page  of  this  book. 


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A  GROUP  OF  JAPANESE  BABIES 

The  love  for  children  is  universal,  not  sectional.  That  was  what  Shakespeare  meant  when  he 
said  that:  "One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin."  What  a  fund  of  humorous  mterest  there 
is  in  the  above  portrayal  of  infant  innocence.  And  yet  there  is  a  background  of  pathos  to  th<>picture, 
for  over  it  han^  the  pall  of  death— perhaps  the  fathers  of  many  of  these  little  ones  laid  their  lives  on 
the  altar  of  their  country. 


NICHOLAS  11.  241 

council  had  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  the  good  of  the  empire  de- 
manded that  Finland  should  be  governed  like  any  other  part  of  the 
country,  and  should  be  received  and  amalgamated  thoroughly  into  the 
empire  by  the  abolition  of  this  constitution,  and  the  placing  of  this 
grand  duchy  under  the  power  of  the  autocracy,  like  any  other  province. 
It  is  reported,  too,  that  one  of  the  Czar's  schemes  for  internal  improve- 
ment was  hampered  by  the  semi-independence  of  the  Finns.  He  had 
planned  the  building  of  a  railroad  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  and  the  port  desired  for  it  is  on  the  Beranger  Fiord,  one  side  of 
which  is  in  Norway  and  the  other  in  Finland.  Although  this  Fiord  is 
on  the  Arctic  Ocean,  still,  by  a  sweep  of  the  Gulf  Stream  around  the 
coast  where  Norway  cuts  off  Sweden  from  the  Arctic  Ocean,  it  is 
almost  always  open. 

Various  Enterprises  and  Projects. 

Among  other  favorite  measures  of  the  Czar  was  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  peasants.  The  sudden  change  caused 
by  the  abolition  of  serfdom  from  the  farming  of  large  estates  to  the 
working  of  small  farms  led  to  great  difficulties  and  hardships  among 
the  people  who  were-  without  any  means  to  carry  on  enterprises  for 
themselves,  and,  in  fact,  were  not  educated  to  the  responsibility.  The 
amelioration  of  these  conditions  was  very  close  to  the  heart  of  the  Czar, 
and  the  empire  was  led  into  vast  expenditures  in  aid  of  this  object. 

Another  enterprise  of  the  Czar  was  the  construction  of  a  waterway 
clear  across  the  country,  connecting  the  Baltic  with  the  Black  Sea.  The 
whole  course  of  this  projected  canal  would  run  through  rich  and  popu- 
lous provinces.  There  was  already  a  canal  w^hich  facilitated  transporta- 
tion between  the  Baltic  and  the  Caspian,  but  it  was  inadequate  to  the 
immense  demand  made  upon  it  for  the  constantly  increasing  output  of 
petroleum,  salt,  grain,  hay,  wood,  and  other  products,  which  depend 
upon  it  for  distribution.  It  was  proposed  to  make  a  ship  canal  by  means 
of  which  ocean-going  steamers  and  warships  might  pass  to  and  fro,  in 
rnd  out  of  the  Black  Sea,  without  reference  to  the  Dardanelles. 


242  NICHOLAS  II. 

A  Policy  of  Peace. 

With  all  these  great  projects  in  hand,  with  peace,  the  greatest  need 
of  the  empire,  it  can  scarcely  be  believed  that  the  war  in  which  Russia 
found  herself  engaged  with  Japan  was  sought  or  desired  by  Nicholas. 
On  the  other  hand,  every  indication  pointed  to  his  sincerity  in  wishing 
for  a  pohcy  of  continuous  peace,  and  it  seemed  to  be  unquestionable  that 
he  was  led  step  by  step  into  a  position  which  provoked,  if  it  did  not  make 
imperative,  the  attack  of  Japan.  The  fact  that  the  Czar  banished  from 
Russia  the  Governor  of  Eastern  Siberia,  who  retired  in  disgrace  to  the 
south  of  France,  would  indicate  that  he  himself  realized  at  last  that  he 
and  the  country  were  led  into  a  false  position  by  the  so-called  "war 
party"  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  the  Far  East. 

Nicholas  is  a  man  of  broad  education,  and  well-read  in  the  literature 
of  other  nations  and  languages  beside  his  own.  He  speaks  English 
fluently,  and  in  boyhood  delighted  to  read  the  novels  of  Walter  Scott 
and  Charles  Dickens.  He  speaks  most  of  the  important  languages  of 
Europe.  He  is  upon  intimate  and  friendly  relations  with  the  young 
King  of  Italy,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  men 
near  his  own  age.  He  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  political  ambi- 
tions and  aspirations  of  the  rulers  of  the  civilized  world.  He  has  had 
frequent  interviews  with  the  monarchs  of  Europe  and  with  French  states- 
men by  visits  he  has  made,  not  infrequently,  both  before  and  since  he 
became  Czar,  at  the  principal  courts  of  Europe.  He  has  seen  and  con- 
versed with  leading  men  of  all  the  fourteen  nations  of  which  he  is  em- 
peror. It  may  appear,  therefore,  surprising  that  he  should  find  himscli 
face  to  face  with  an  unwished  for  and  detested  war. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION 

The  Bone  of  Contention — History  of  the  Country — Seoul,  the  Capital — Chemulpo — Fusan, 
the  Gateway  to  Korea — Classes  of  People — Slavery — Korean  Literature — Industries — 
Commercial  Importance. 

KOREA  might  have  been  called  the  real  bone  of  contention  between 
Russia  and  Japan.  Of  course  Manchuria  figured  considerably  in 
the  disagreement  and  war.  Russia  made  an  application  to  the  Korean 
government  in  January,  1903,  for  a  railroad  concession  from  Seoul  to 
Wiju,  which  was  refused  by  Korea;  she  also  attempted  to  establish  a 
settlement  near  Wiju,  in  order  to  hold  a  timber  concession  granted  in 
1896.  It  was  reported  that  many  Russian  soldiers  were  entering  the 
territory,  disguised  as  surveyors,  and  a  protest  was  made  by  Korea, 
who  insisted  that  the  Russians  retire.  It  was  generally  thought  that  the 
aggression  on  the  part  of  the  latter  country  was  evidence  of  a  design 
against  Korea  similar  to  that  against  Manchuria.  Japan  joined  Korea 
in  the  protest,  and  for  a  time  war  seemed  verging  between  Japan  and 
Russia,  at  that  time.  Japan  also  showed  a  tendency  to  find  a  foothold 
in  Korea,  demanding  the  same  rights  there  that  Russia  enjoyed  in 
Manchuria. 

Population  and  Area. 

Korea  has  an  area  equal  to  that  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  or  82,000 
square  miles.  Its  population  is  one-fourth  that  of  Japan  or  10,528,937. 
The  Korean  peninsula  hangs  like  a  bridge  down  from  Manchuria  almost 
to  Japan.  It  has  a  coast  line  measuring  1,740  miles,  and  with  its  out- 
lying islands  has  a  coast  line  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  Great  Britain. 
The  name  of  Korea  is  derived  from  the  Japanese  "Korai"  (chosen), 
and  is  translated  into  "Morning  Calm."  The  eastern  half  of  the  penin- 
sula is  a  sinuous  range  of  mountains  of  which  western  Korea  is  the  slope. 

243 


244  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

When  the  steam  and  electric  railways  were  built  in  Korea  a  lew  years 
ago  the  natives  looked  upon  them  as  the  works  of  the  devil  or  the  evil 
spirit.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  officials  prevented 
the  mob  from  destroying  the  property  of  the  electric  railway,  which  had 
begun  operations  in  Seoul. 

The  City  of  Seoul. 

Seoul,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  is  enclosed  by  crenellated  walls 
of  varying  height,  which  average  about  20  feet,  with  arch  stone  bridges 
spanning  the  water  courses.  The  city  is  laid  off  in  the  form  of  an  irreg- 
ular oblong,  and  stretches  lengthwise  in  a  valley  that  runs  from  north- 
east to  southwest.  The  houses  are  about  eight  or  nine  feet  high,  built 
of  stone  or  mud  and  mostly  roofed  with  tiles,  after  the  Chinese  fashion. 
Internally  the  abodes  of  the  Koreans  are  clean,  for  like  the  Japanese, 
they  take  off  their  shoes  before  entering  the  houses. 

A  long  main  street,  about  100  feet  wide,  running  from  east  to  west, 
divides  the  city  into  two  nearly  equal  portions.  In  the  northern  half 
are  the  walled  and  inclosures  containing  the  King's  palace  and  the  more 
important  public  buildings.  A  street  about  50  feet  wid^  intersects  the 
main  thoroughfare  at  right  angles,  dividing  the  northern  half  of  the 
city  into  eastern  and  western  quarters,  x^t  the  point  of  intersection 
stands  a  pavilion  called  Chong-Kak  (the  "Bell  Kiosk"),  from  a  large 
bell  about  7  feet  high  which  is  placed  there.  This  spot  is  regarded  as 
the  center  of  the  city,  and  from  it  another  street  as  wide  as  the  main 
street  branches  ofi  to  the  southwest.  The  four  wide  streets  which  thus 
radiate  from  the  "Bell  Kiosk"  are  known  as  the  four  Cfaong-Ro  or 
"Bell  roads." 

Appearance  of  the  Streets. 

Another  conspicuous  feature  of  this  central  part  of  the  city  is  the 
row  of  large  warehouses — two  stories  high,  the  lower  portion  of  which 
are  divided  into  little  shops,  opening  into  a  small  court-yard  instead  of 
facing  the  street.  The  width  of  the  main  streets  was  formerly  much 
reduced  by  the  construction  in  front  of  nearly  every  house  of  a  rude 
wooden  shanty  used  for  a  work  shop  or  business  purposes,  which  gave 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  245 

the  streets  a  poor  and  squalid  appearance.  A  spacious  market  place  is 
located  in  one  of  the  busiest  parts  of  the  city.  An  annual  appropriation 
of  $50,000  was  made  by  the  Finance  Department  for  the  maintenance 
and  improvements  of  the  roads,  and  a  similar  sum  was  recently  appro- 
priated for  drainage.     Official  returns  give  the  number  of  houses  in 

Seoul  as  30,000. 

The  Principal  Seaport  Town. 

Chemulpo  is  the  principal  seaport  city  of  Korea.  It  faces  toward 
the  Russian  cities  of  Port  Arthur  and  Dalny  at  the  end  of  the  Man- 
churian  peninsular.  It  is  about  one  day  by  steamship  across  the  Gulf 
of  Pechili  from  Chemulpo  to  Port  Arthur.  According  to  the  Japanese 
their  war  with  Russia  began  at  Chemulpo  on  February  8  by  the  Russian 
warships  in  that  harbor  firing  upon  the  Japanese  fleet  and  transports 
which  were  endeavoring  to  disembark  troops  on  Korean  soil  at  Che- 
mulpo. 

Rapid  Rise  of  Chemulpo. 

The  city  is  located  at  the  entrance  to  the  Salle  River,  on  the  west 
coast  of  Korea.  In  1880  Chemulpo  was  a  collection  of  about  a  dozen  mis- 
erable mud  huts ;  in  1904,  it  was  a  large  and  flourishing  center  of  trade, 
with  broad  roads  of  metal,  good  substantial  buildings  and  a  foreign 
population  of  about  8,000,  principally  Japanese  and  Chinese.  These 
settlements  are  fully  occupied,  and  the  price  of  land  in  the  general  for- 
eign settlement  has  risen  almost  unto  fabulous  rates.  The  outer  an- 
chorage is  accessible  to  ships  of  all  sizes,  and  the  inner  one  to  coasting 
vessels  and  steamers  ordinarily  employed  in  the  local  trade.  The  port 
was  opened  to  Japanese  trade  on  the  first  of  January,  1883,  and  to  for- 
eign trade  on  June  of  the  same  year.  The  total  value  of  the  trade  at 
Chemulpo  amounts  to  more  than  $10,000,000  per  annum.  Korea  pur- 
chases more  goods  from  other  countries  than  she  sells  to  them. 

A  Country  of  Ancient  Traditions. 

That  part  of  Korea  comprised  in  the  peninsular  has  been  inhabited 
by  a  people  whose  traditions  extend  over  a  period  of  five  thousand 


246  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

years.  They  have  been  subjected  to  kaleidoscopic  changes  whereby 
smaller  tribes  were  absorbed  by  larger,  and  weaker  governments  were 
overthrown  by  stronger — there  was  gradually  evolved  one  kingdom 
which,  eventually  embracing  all  preceding  territorial  units  under  her 
own  protection,  has  presented  to  the  world  through  centuries  a  more 
or  less  composite  and  stable  authority.  From  very  early  times  until 
1895,  ^^^^  King  of  Korea  was  a  vassal  of  China.  In  early  times  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  King  of  the  whole  peninsular,  and  the  suzerainty 
of  China,  irregularly  maintained  at  best,  was  long  confined  to  the  small 
kingdom  or  kingdoms  which  occupied  the  northern  part  of  the  country. 
At  an  early  date  a  large  faction,  if  not  the  whole  of  the  peninsular,  was 
conquered  by  the  Japanese  under  Empress  Jingu  and  maintained  for 
a  considerable  time.  Again,  in  the  closing  years  of  the  i6th  century, 
the  peninsula  was  invaded  and  a  large  part  of  it  temporarily  conquered 
by  the  Japanese.  Under  the  regent  Hideyoshi  and  even  after  most  of 
the  peninsula  was  evacuated  but  the  Japanese  retained  a  foothold  at 
Fusan,  together  with  certain  rights  which  formed  the  basis  of  which 
China's  claim  to  suzerainty  was  disputed  in  the  war  of  1895. 

The  Part  Played  by  Fusan. 

Fusan  not  only  played  an  important  role  in  that  war,  but  had  been 
for  centuries  the  flood  gate  through  which  had  poured  the  inhabitants 
of  Japan,  Sometimes  they  had  invaded  Korea  as  enemies,  levying  trib- 
ute; sometimes  they  had  come  as  allies  against  China;  sometimes  they 
had  appeared  as  envoys  of  a  friendly  state  and  had  returned  enriched 
to  the  court  of  their  sovereign. 

At  times,  actuated  by  compassion,  they  had  sent  grain  ships  to 
Fusan  when  famine  overtook  their  neighbor.  In  a  word,  between 
Japan  and  Fusan  there  was  a  continuous  passing  of  ships.  Around 
this  outlet,  the  one  gate  to  the  southern  half  of  the  peninsular,  the  spas- 
modic beginnings  of  the  present  important  commerce  between  the  two 
countries  grew  out  of  a  fitful  exchange  of  commodities. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  Korea,  taking  advantage  of  the  internal 
convulsions  of  which  the  Island  Empire  was  a  victim,  had  practically 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  247 

renounced  her  old  relation  of  vassalage  to  Japan  and  had  ceased  to 
send  an  annual  embassy  thither.  When  order  was  at  length  restored  in 
the  Island  Empire,  the  King  of  Korea  was  summoned  to  renew  his  alle- 
giance. 

Invasion  of  Korea. 

The  answer  proving  unsatisfactory,  an  invasion  of  the  peninsula 
was  undertaken  by  the  Japanese.  A  settlement  at  Fusan,  which  had 
been  founded  long  before  by  the  retainers  of  the  daimio  of  the  Island  of 
Tsu-shima,  assisted  by  itinerant  traders  and  deserters  from  the  num- 
erous expeditions  which  had  visited  its  shores,  had  grown  to  such  di- 
mensions that  when  a  Japanese  force  was  descried  off  the  harbor  on 
the  morning  of  May  25th,  1592,  Fusan  was  already  in  their  possession. 

Not  only  did  this  circumstance  give  the  Japanese  troops  facilities 
ior  disembarkation,  but,  throughout  the  vicissitudes  of  the  next  six 
years'  campaign,  it  furthered  their  operations. 

The  position  of  Fusan  made  the  place  not  only  a  base  of  supplies 
for  the  invading  armies,  but  also  a  repairing  yard,  much  needed  by  the 
Japanese  fleet  when  it  had  been  defeated  by  the  Korean  ships  in  an  at- 
tempt to  co-operate  with  the  victorious  soldiers  which  the  Japanese 
generals,  Konishi  and  Kuroda,  had  massed  before  the  city  of  Ping-yang, 
in  the  northwest  of  the  peninsula. 

After  the  failure  of  this  first  invasion  and  the  retreat  in  May,  1593, 
of  the  Japanese  from  the  north  before  the  combined  strength  of  the 
Chinese  and  Koreans,  Fusan  became  one  of  the  fortified  camps  where 
the  Japanese  passed  the  winter  within  sight  of  their  native  shores. 

The  negotiations  which  were  prosecuted  during  the  four  following 
years  having  proved  fruitless,  Japan  decided  to  renew  her  attack,  and 
Fusan  became  the  base  of  the  second  invasion.  A  tremendous  force 
was  now  launched  against  the  peninsula  by  Hideyoshi,  and  although 
it  had  ultimately  to  be  withdrawn,  it  is  said  to  have  cost  Korea  the  loss 
of  300,000  men  and  to  have  subjected  it  to  devastation  from  which  the 
country  needed  two  centuries  to  recover,  if  indeed,  it  has  ever  regained 
its  former  prosperity. 


248  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

Moreover,  as  we  have  mentioned,  the  Japanese  continued  to  retain 
Fusan,  as  a  voucher  of  their  claim  to  ascendency.  When  the  treaty  of 
1876  removed  the  nominal  obstacles  to  the  over-sea  immigration,  which 
had  gone  on  for  several  hundred  years,  a  wave  of  Japanese  colonization 
at  once  broke  upon  the  eastern,  western  and  southern  shores  of  the 
Hermit  Kingdom, 

A  Mixture  of  Elements. 

Most  ethonologists  regard  the  Korean  as  the  product  of  a  mixture 
of  Mongolian  and  Caucasian  elements.  His  personal  observation  has 
led  him  to  concur  in  the  belief  that  the  Koreans  are  descendant  from 
part  of  the  half  savage  and  nomadic  tribes  of  Mongolia  and  Northern 
Asia  and  partly  from  the  Caucasian  peoples  of  Western  Asia. 

These  two  races,  coming  in  the  one  case  from  the  North,  and  drift- 
ing up  in  the  other  from  the  South,  at  the  time  of  the  Aryan  invasion  of 
India,  peopled  respectively  the  North  and  the  South  of  the  peninsula. 

Speech  Akin  to  Chinese. 

Finally,  fusing,  they  gave  to  the  world  a  composite  nation,  distinct 
in  type  and  speech  and  habits,  and  amalgamated  only  by  a  train  of  cir- 
cumstances over  which  they  could  have  no  control.  It  is  by  the  facial 
resemblances  that  the  origin  of  the  Koreans  may  be  traced  in  part  to 
a  Caucasian  source. 

The  speech  of  the  country,  while  closely  akin  to  Chinese,  reproduces 
sounds  and  many  verbal  denominations  which  are  found  in  the  language 
of  India.  Korea  has  submitted  to  the  influence  of  Chinese  arts  and  lit- 
erature for  centuries,  yet  there  is  but  little  agreement  between  the 
legends  of  the  two  countries.  The  folklore  of  China  is  in  radical  dis- 
agreement with  the  vague  and  shadowy  traditions  of  the  people  of  Korea. 
There  is,  in  truth,  a  vast  blank  in  the  early  history  of  the  peninsula  at 
a  period  when  the  Middle  Kingdom  is  represented  by  consecutive  rec- 
ords still  unimpaired 

Three  Classes  of  People. 

The  Koreans  are,  it  seems,  divided  into  three  classes.  The  "yang- 
ban,"  or  noble,  is,  of  course,  the  ruling  class;  then  come  a  middle  and  a 
lower  class.    The  social  barriers  are  well  defined. 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  249 

The  upper  class  woman  lives  like  the  inmate  of  a  zenana;  from  the 
age  of  12  she  is  visible  only  to  the  people  of  her  household,  and  to  her 
immediate  relatives.  She  is  married  young,  and  thenceforth  her  ac- 
quaintances among  men  are  restricted  to  those  within  the  fifth  degree 
of  cousinship.  She  may,  indeed,  visit  her  friends,  being  usually  carried 
by  four  bearers  in  a  screened  chair.  She  seldom  walks,  but  should  she 
do  so  her  face  is  invariably  veiled  in  the  folds  of  a  chang-ot.  The  chang- 
ot  is  by  no  means  so  complete  a  concealment  as  is  the  Turkish  veil. 
Moreover  it  is  often  cast  aside  in  old  age. 

Upon  the  women  of  the  middle  class  few  restrictions  are  imposed 
as  to  their  appearance  in  the  streets,  nor  are  they  so  closely  secluded 
in  their  houses  as  are  their  aristocratic  sisters.  Their  faces,  however, 
are  veiled.  Nuns,  dancing  girls,  slaves  and  prostitutes,  all  of  whom 
are  included  in  the  lowest  class,  are  forbidden  to  wear  the  chang-ot. 

Women  doctors,  too,  dispense  with  it,  although  only  women  of  the 
highest  birth  are  allowed  to  practice  medicine.  There  are  some  other 
careers  besides  that  of  medicine  which  are  open  to  women  of  the  upper 
class,  who  wish  to  embark  in  business  in  order  to  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  household.  They  may  cultivate  silkworms,  start  an  apiary, 
weave  straw  shoes,  conduct  a  wnne  shop,  or  teach. 

Vocations  of  Women. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  may  not  undertake  either  the  manufacture 
of  lace  and  cloth,  or  the  sale  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  A  descent  in  the 
social  scale  increases  the  number  of  callings  which  are  open  to  women. 
Those  of  the  middle  class  may  engage  in  all  the  occupations  permitted 
to  upper  class  women  except  medicine  and  teaching.  They  may  so  be- 
come concubines,  act  as  cooks,  go  out  as  wet  nurses,  or  fill  posts  in  the 
palace.  They  may  keep  any  kind  of  shop,  tavern  or  hotel ;  they  possess 
certain  fishing  privileges  which  allow  them  to  dig  clams  and  collect 
cuttle  fish  or  beches  de  mer.  They  may  make  every  sort  of  boot  and 
shoe.    They  may  make  fishing  nets  and  fashion  tobacco  pouches. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  some  little  respect  is  paid  to  women  of  the 
middle  class,  those  of  the  third,  or  lowest  stratum,  are  held  in  contempt. 


:250  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

Of  the  occupations  open  to  middle  class  women,  there  are  two  ui  which 
women  of  humble  origin  cannot  engage.  The  latter  are  ineligible 
for  any  palace  position,  and  they  are  forbidden  to  manufacture  tobacco 
pouches. 

They  may  become  sorceresses,  jugglers,  tumblers,  contortionists, 
dancing  girls  and  courtesans.  The  dancing  girl  usually  closes  her  ca- 
reer by  becoming  the  concubine  of  some  rich  noble.  Concubinage,  by 
the  way,  is  a  recognized  institution,  and  one  in  which  the  middle  and 
lower  classes  as  well  as  the  highest  class  indulge. 

The  rights  of  the  children  of  concubines  vary  according  to  the  moral 
laxity  of  the  class  in  which  they  are  born.  In  the  upper  class  they 
possess  no  claim  against  the  estates  of  their  progenitors;  the  law  of 
entail  ignores  them,  and  they  may  not  perform  the  family  sacrifices. 
In  the  absence  of  legitimate  issue  to  a  member  of  the  highest  class, 
a  son  must  be  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  inheriting  the  family  property 
and  of  attending  to  funeral  and  ancestral  rites.  Great  stress  is  laid  in 
the  highest  class  upon  purity  of  descent. 

In  the  middle  and  lowest  classes  less  attention  is  paid  to  it.  Save 
in  the  lowest  class,  it  is  usual  to  maintain  a  separate  establishment  for 
each  concubine.  The  fact  that  in  the  lowest  class,  the  concubine  and 
the  wife  share  the  same  house  is  chargeable  with  much  of  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  Korean  family  life. 

No  Law  of  Seclusion. 

It  appears  that  under  the  previous  dynasty — the  present  dynasty  has 
occupied  the  throne  continuously  since  1392 — the  sphere  of  Korean  wo- 
men was  less  restricted.  There  was  no  law  of  seclusion;  the  female 
sex  enjoyed  greater  public  freedom.  In  the  closing  decades  of  the  pre- 
ceding dynasty,  however,  the  tone  of  society  was  lowered,  and  women 
became  victims  of  violence.  Buddhist  priests  were  guilty  of  widespread 
debauchery;  conjugal  infidelity  was  common. 

The  present  dynasty  which,  as  we  have  said,  has  been  on  the  throne 
more  than  500  years,  endeavored  to  check  these  evils  by  ordaining  the 
isolation  and  promoting  the  greater  subjection  of  the  female  sex.    Vice 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  251 

and  immorality  had  been  so  long  and  so  promiscuously  practiced,  how- 
ever, that  already  men  had  begun  to  keep  their  women  in  seclusion  of 
their  own  accord. 

If  they  respected  them  to  some  extent,  they  were  wholly  distrustful 
to  one  another.  Distrust  and  suspicion  were  thus  the  principal  causes 
of  the  immuring  of  women,  the  system  being  spontaneously  evolved  as 
the  male  Koreans  learned  to  dread  the  evil  propensities  of  their  own  sex. 

Only  Female  Slaves  Allowed. 

At  present  the  institution  of  slavery  in  Korea  is  confined  to  the  pos- 
session of  female  slaves.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  great  invasion  of  Korea 
by  Japanese  armies  in  1592,  both  men  and  women  could  be  held  in 
bondage.  The  loss  of  men,  however,  in  that  war  was  so  great  that 
upon  its  conclusion  a  law  was  promulgated  which  forbade  the  holding 
of  males  in  servitude. 

There  still  exists,  however,  in  Korea,  the  "sang-no"  (incorrectly 
translated  slave  boy),  who  renders  certain  services  only,  and  receives 
his  food  and  clothes  in  compensation.  The  position  of  the  sang-no  is 
more  humble  than  that  filled  by  the  paid  servants,  but  it  is  superior  to 
that  of  the  slave  proper.  It  is  even  superior  to  that  of  the  serf  in 
mediaeval  England,  because  the  sang-no  is  bound  by  no  agreement, 
written  or  customary,  and  is  free  to  leave  his  employer. 

Duties  of  the  Slave. 

The  duties  of  the  female  slave  comprise  the  rough  work  of  the  house. 
She  does  the  washing — a  function  which  in  a  Korean  household  imposes 
exacting  and  continuous  labor;  she  fetches  water  from  the  well,  assists 
in  the  cooking,  undertakes  the  marketing  and  runs  errands.  She  is  not 
allowed  to  assume  any  duties  of  a  superior  character;  her  place  is  in  the 
kitchen  or  the  yard ;  she  cannot  become  either  a  lady's  maid  or  a  favored 
servant  of  any  superior  grade. 

How  a  Woman  Becomes  a  Slave. 

There  are,  we  are  told,  four  ways  by  which  a  Korean  woman  may 
become  a  slave.     If  in  abject  poverty  she  may  give  herself  to  slavery 


252  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

voluntarily,  in  exchange  merely  for  food,  clothes  and  shelter.  The  wo- 
man who  becomes  a  slave  in  this  way  cannot  buy  back  her  freedom. 
She  has  fewer  rights  than  the  slave  who  is  bought  from  an  owner,  or 
who  sells  herself  for  money.  The  daughter  of  a  slave  who  dies  in  servi- 
tude continues  in  slavery. 

In  the  event  of  the  marriage  of  her  mistress,  such  a  slave  ranks  as  a 
part  of  the  dowry.  A  woman  may  also  be  reduced  to  slavery  by  the 
treasonable  misconduct  of  a  relative.  The  family  of  a  man  convicted 
of  treason  becomes  the  property  of  the  Government  and  the  v.omen 
are  alloted  to  high  officials.  Legally,  they  then  become  slaves,  but 
usually  they  are  manumitted. 

Again,  a  woman  may  submit  herself  to  the  approval  of  a  prospective 
employer.  If  she  is  found  satisfactory,  and  is  well  recommended,  her 
services  may  be  appraised.  When  payment  has  been  made,  she  gives 
a  deed  of  her  own  person  to  her  purchaser,  imprinting  the  outline  of  her 
hand  upon  the  document  in  place  of  a  seal,  and  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying easy  means  of  identification.  Although  this  transaction  does  not 
receive  the  recognizance  of  the  Government,  the  contract  is  binding. 
Marriage  of  Slaves  Promoted. 

We  observe,  lastly,  that  as  the  law  provides  that  the  daughter  of 
a  slave  must  take  the  place  of  her  parent  should  the  latter  die,  it  is 
plainly  for  the  owner's  interest  to  promote  the  marriage  of  his  slaves. 
Slaves  who  receive  compensation  for  their  services  are  entitled  to  marry 
whom  they  please,  and  quarters  are  provided  for  the  couple. 

The  master  of  the  house,  however,  has  no  claim  upon  the  services 
of  the  husband.  The  slave  w^ho  voluntarily  assigns  herself  to  servitude, 
but  receives  no  pay  for  her  services,  may  not  marry  without  her  owner's 
consent.  In  such  cases,  however,  it  is  not  unusual  for  the  master  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  to  restore  to  the  slave  her  liberty. 

Hitherto — that  is  to  say,  before  Western  ideas  began  to  penetrate 
the  peninsula — the  position  of  the  Korean  woman  has  been  so  humble 
that  education  has  been  deemed  superfluous.  In  Korea,  as  in  ancient 
Athens,  the  artistic  and  literary  faculties  of  respectable  women  were 
left  uncultivated. 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  253 

Among  the  dancing  girls  and  courtesans,  on  the  other  hand,  as 
among  the  Greek  hetaira,  the  mental  abilities  are  trained  and  developed, 
with  a  view  to  making  them  brilliant  and  entertaining  companions. 

Leaves  of  Sunlight. 

The  one  sign,  indeed  of  their  profession  is  their  culture,  the  scope  and 
the  charm  of  their  attainments. 

These  "leaves  of  sunlight,"  as  they  are  called,  stand  apart  in  a  class 
of  their  own.  They  are  named  "gisaing,"  and  correspond  to  the  geisha 
of  Japan ;  the  duties,  environment  and  mode  of  existence  of  the  two  are 
almost  identical.  Officially  the  gisaing  are  attached  to  a  department 
of  the  Government,  and,  in  common  with  the  court  musicians,  are  con- 
trolled by  a  particular  bureau. 

They  are  supported  from  the  national  treasury,  and  they  play  a  con- 
spicuous part  at  official  dinners  and  palace  entertainments.  They  read 
and  recite,  they  dance  and  sing;  they  are  accomplished  artists  and  mu- 
sicians. They  dress  with  exceptional  taste ;  they  move  with  exceeding 
grace ;  they  are  delicate  in  appearance,  very  frail  and  very  human,  very 
tender,  sympathetic  and  imaginative. 

By  their  artistic  and  intellectual  endowments,  the  dancing  girls 
ironically  enough,  are  debarred  from  the  positions  for  which  their  talents 
peculiarly  fit  them.  They  may  move  in  the  highest  society,  and,  in  fact, 
do  live  in  it,  but  they  are  not  of  it. 

They  are  met  at  the  house  of  the  most  distinguished  men;  they  may 
become  the  mistresses  of  nobles  or  of  princes,  or  even  concubines  of  the 
Emperor.  In  Korea,  however,  as  in  ancient  Athens,  a  man  of  good 
birth  may  not  marry  them,  although  they  typify  everything  that  is 
bright,  lively  and  beautiful. 

Methods  of  Instruction. 

We  pass  to  the  education  provided  for  men,  and  to  some  extent  for 
respectable  women.  Up  to  the  relatively  recent  introduction  of  foreign 
curricula  and  method  of  instruction,  and,  for  that  matter,  even  now,  as 
regards  the  majority,  the  acquirements  of  the  cultured  classes  have  been 


:254  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

and  are  summed  up  in  a  vague  and  imoerfect  knowledge  of  the  Chinese 
classics. 

The  members  of  the  highest  class  profess  to  understand  the  lan- 
guage, and  to  know  the  literature  of  China,  but  very  seldom  are  men 
of  the  middle  class  able  to  do  more  than  read  the  mixed  Chinese-Korean 
script  in  which  the  native  newspapers  are  printed.  In  this  script  the 
grammatical  construction  is  purely  Korean. 

As  regards  the  oral  language,  the  mandarin  dialect  of  China  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  speech  of  polite  society  in  Korea.  It  is  the  medium 
of  official  communication  at  the  Court,  and  most  of  the  foreigners  in 
the  service  of  the  Government  have  mastered  it. 

According  to  Prof.  Homer  D.  Hulbert,  whose  researches  in  Korean 
and  Chinese  philology  may  make  an  authority,  only  i  per  cent  of  the 
women  of  the  upper  class,  though  they  may  study  Chinese,  have  any 
practical  knowledge  of  it. 

Women  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  are  ignorant  of  the  language 
and  literature  of  the  middle  Kingdom. 

Not  more  than  5  per  cent  would  be  found  who  could  take  up  a 
Chinese  work  and  read  it  as  glibly  as  an  average  assembly  of  English 
people  might  be  expected  to  read  ordinary  Latin  prose. 

The  Literature  of  Korea. 

As  regards  the  On-mun,  or  common  script  of  the  country,  there  is 
no  such  ignorance ;  Koreans  of  the  middle,  as  well  as  of  the  upper  class, 
study  their  native  writings  with  assiduity  and  intelligence.  We  are  re- 
minded that  the  language  of  Korea  is  altogether  different  from  Ihat 
of  China  and  Japan. 

The  Hermit  Kingdom  possesses  what  both  of  those  countries  lack,  to- 
wit,  an  alphabet,  which  at  present  consists  of  twenty-five  letters.  The 
introduction  of  this  alphabet  is  ascribed  by  the  native  annals  to  the  year 
1447,  when  the  King  of  Korea,  resolving  to  assert  his  independence  by 
abandoning  the  Chinese  mode  of  writing  as  the  official  medium  of  corre- 
spondence, invented  an  alphabet  to  suit  the  requirements  of  the  ver- 
nacular.   The  vernacular  literature  includes  translations  from  the  Chinese 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  255. 

anh  Japanese  classics,  works  on  modern  and  mediaeval  history,  Korean 
books  of  travel  and  hunting,  poetry,  correspondence  and  works  of  fic- 
tion. Many  of  these  books  are  studiously  perused  by  Korean  women, 
ignorance  of  their  contents  being  regarded  with  disdain  by  members 
of  the  upper  class,  and  even,  though  in  a  less  pronounced  degree,  by 
representatives  of  the  middle  class.  The  female  attendants  in  the  pal- 
ace are  especially  conversant  with  the  vernacular,  one  of  their  duties 
being  to  prepare  On-mun  copies  of  Government  orders,  current  news 
and  general  gossip  for  imperial  use.  Books  in  native  script  may  easily 
be  purchased  in  Korean  cities,  or  they  may  be  taken  from  circulating 
libraries.  Many  works  are  written  in  Chinese  and  in  Korean  upon  al- 
ternate pages. 

Korean  Industries. 

The  majority  of  the  Korean  industries  are  connected  with  agricul- 
ture. It  seems  that  more  than  70  per  cent  of  the  population  are  farm- 
ers, while  the  carpenters,  blacksmiths  and  stone  masons  combine  a  life- 
long experience  of  husbandry  with  proficiency  at  the  forge  or  in  the 
work  shop.  Even  the  schoolmaster  is  usually  the  son  of  a  yeoman- 
farmer;  the  fisherman  has  a  small  holding  which  his  wife  tills  while  he 
follows  his  calling.  The  rural  population  take  an  active  part  in  certain 
native  industries — thus  the  wives  of  farmers  not  only  raise  cotton,  silk, 
linen  and  grass  cloth,  but  convert  the  raw  material  into  finished  fabrics. 

The  sandals,  mats,  osier  and  wooden  wares  which  figure  conspicu- 
ously in  Korean  households,  are  produced  by  the  farmers  and  their 
families  in  their  leisure  hours.  The  officials,  too,  the  yamen-runners, 
the  merchants,  innkeepers,  miners  and  junk  men,  though  they  do  not 
belong  to  the  agricultural  population,  are  closely  connected  with  it. 

The  Government  exists  on  the  revenue  raised  from  agriculture.  The 
internal  economy  of  the  country  has  been  for  centuries  associated  with 
the  pursuits  and  problems  of  the  agriculturist. 

Agricultural  Implements. 

The  implements  of  the  Korean  tiller  of  the  soil  are  rude  and  few. 
They  consist  of  a  plow  with  a  removable  iron  shoe,  which  turns  the- 
sod  in  a  direction  the  reverse  of  our  own;  a  spade  equipped  with  ropes 


256  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

and  dragged  by  several  men;  bamboo  flails  and  rakes,  and  a  small  hoe 
— sharp  and  heavy — used  as  occasion  may  require  for  reaping  or  chop- 
ping, as  well  as  hoeing. 

During  the  harvest  season  all  available  hands  are  mustered  into  the 
fields.  The  women  cut  the  crop,  the  men  fasten  the  sheaves,  the  chil- 
dren load  them  into  rope  panniers  suspended  upon  wooden  frames 
from  the  backs  of  bulls.  The  cut  grain  is  threshed  without  delay,  the 
men  emptying  the  laden  baskets  upon  the  roadway  and  setting  to  with 
unwearied  vigor.  While  the  men  thresh  with  their  flails  and  the  wind 
winnows  the  grain,  a  number  of  women  work  with  their  feet  a  massive 
beam,  from  which  an  iron  or  granite  pestal  is  hung  over  a  deep  granite 
mortar.  This  rude  contrivance  pulverizes  the  grain  sufficiently  for  the 
coarse  cakes  which  serve  in  lieu  of  bread. 

Beyond  the  bull  and  the  pig,  there  are  few  animals  in  the  inland  dis- 
tricts. The  pony  and  the  donkey  are  not  employed  in  agricultural  work 
to  the  same  extent  as  the  bull.  The  latter  animal,  moreover,  is  better 
cared  for  than  is  the  pony,  whose  temper  is  ruined  by  the  harshness 
with  which  he  is  treated.  The  cruelty  shown  by  the  Korean  to  his  pony 
is  the  most  loathsome  feature  of  the  national  life. 

Cultivation  of  Rice. 

Irrigation  is  needed  only  for  rice,  the  chief  cereal  of  the  country, 
which,  throughout  central  and  southern  Korea,  yields  fairly  abundant 
crops.  To  the  north  rice  makes  way  for  millet,  the  chief  supplementary 
food  of  the  Korean,  In  times  of  drought  the  rice  fields  are  used  for 
barley,  oats  and  rye. 

Beans,  peas  and  potatoes  are  planted  between  the  furrows.  Ac- 
cording to  Korean  tradition,  rice  originated  in  Naram,  in  China,  at  a 
date  variously  given  as  2838,  B.  C,  and  2698,  B.  C.  The  first  rice  was 
brought  to  Korea  in  2122,  B.  C,  the  only  grain  raised  in  the  country 
before  that  time  having  been  millet.  There  are  in  the  Korean  penin- 
sula three  kinds  of  rice,  together  with  a  number  of  sub-species.  First 
is  that  called  specifically  kap-kok,  which  is  grown  in  the  paddy  fields. 
It  is  used  almost  exclusively  to  make  pap,  the  ordinary  boiled  rice. 


II 

«  Si 


»  A  2  »  fc  •  i;* 

—  s  ^"^  2^  ^'"^  5 

"ft  gas  =  t:i2 J 
a  •52S*§'-S5g 

X  JS  ~  ^  o' »  t'  2  u 


KSoa.'?ot;««'*'g-..rc..  c  a 


inCHOLAS  n,  CZAR  OF  RUSSIA 

The  warlike  person  in  the  foreground  of  the  above  picture  hardly  conveys  the  impres- 
sion of  a  man  who  would  suggest  the  disarmament  of  the  nations  of  the  world.  And  yet  it 
was  the  Russian  emperor  who,  a  few  years  ago,  advocated  universal  peace.  The  photograph, 
from  which  the  drawing  was  made,  was  taken  as  he  was  returning  to  the  Imperial  Palace  after 
bidding  farewell  to  a  departing  body  of  troops. 


-^  Q3l-^- 


1.  •  I— I  *>•?;- 
Eh       ^  S*- 


83  o  ^z: 
'     o?=  S  *^ 

^  =  •=2: 

>    ^    T.    ti 

J—  s-= 

■  —a:         w 

i  I  = 


<l  -^^ 


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CO 
A 
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p^ 
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P^ 


2  2 


THE  COSSACK  LANCE 

A  troop  of  Siberian  Cossacks  charged  the  Japanese  line  at  Vagenfuchu  with  lances, 
attacking  both  flanks.  It  was  a  sight  worth  seeing,  when,  at  the  word  of  command,  the 
Russian  squadron  dashed  furiously  against  the  Japanese  troops,  but  like  the  "thin  red  line" 
at  W£(^«rloo,  the  Japanese  met  the  onset  without  a  waver. 


KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION.  257 

Then  there  is  the  chunk-kok,  or  upland  rice,  which  is  drier  than 
the  paddy-field  variety  and  is  used  largely  for  making  rice  flour  and 
brewing  beer.  The  third  kind  is  grown  on  the  slopes  of  mountains 
and  is  a  wild  rice.  It  is  smaller  and  harder  than  the  other  kinds,  and, 
as  it  will  withstand  the  weather  and  remain  perfectly  sound  for  ten 
years,  it  is  used  to  provision  garrisons. 

Varieties  of  Beans. 

A  principal  staple  of  export  from  the  peninsula  is  the  "horse  bean." 
It  is  supposed  by  Koreans  to  have  originated  in  the  northwestern  China, 
and  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  is  used  largely  for  fodder.  The 
horse  bean  grows  most  abundantly  in  Kyong-syang  (the  southern  prov- 
ince), though  it  is  comrtM)n  all  over  the  country. 

Other  varieties  distributed  in  different  provinces  are  the  black  bean, 
the  green  -bean,  the  oil  bean,  the  white  cap  bean,  the  yellow  bean,  the 
brown  bean  and  the  chestnut  bean.  According  to  Mr.  Hamilton,  the 
importance  of  these  different  species  of  pulse  to  the  Korean  cannot  be 
overestimated.  They  provide  him  with  the  oily  and  nitrogenous  ele- 
ment which  are  lacking  in  rice.  As  a  rule,  they  constitute  about  one- 
sixth  of  his  food. 

Other  Products. 

The  value  of  barley  to  the  Koreans  is  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  the  first  grain  to  germinate  in  the  spring.  It  carries  the  people  on 
until  the  millet  and  rice  crops  are  ready.  Barley  and  wheat  are  raised 
more  or  less  extensively  throughout  Korea  for  the  purpose  of  making 
wine  and  beer.  Barley  yields  spring  and  autumn  crops,  and  wheat 
yields  only  a  winter  crop. 

The  crops  of  wheat,  by  the  way,  are  small,  except  m  Pyong-an,  the 
northwestern  province.  Of  millet  there  are  six  varieties,  the  price  of 
the  finer  qualities  being  the  same  as  that  obtained  for  rice.  Oats  are 
a  staple  food  in  the  more  mountainous  regions.  From  the  stalk  of  the 
oat  the  Koreans  make  a  famous  paper  which  is  used  in  the  Emperor's 
palaces. 

Of  sorghum,  three  kinds  are  grown  in  Korea,  but  sugar  cannot  be. 


^58  KOREA,  THE  HERMIT  NATION 

extracted  from  it.  Herein  lies  a  marked  difference  between  the  penin- 
sula and  China.  As  regards  animal  food  the  Korean,  like  the  Chinese, 
may  be  said  to  be  omniverous.  Dog  meat  is  in  great  request  at  certain 
seasons. 

Pork  arid  beef  are  eaten  with  the  blood  undrained  from  the  carcass. 
Birds  are  cooked  with  the  lights,  giblets,  heads  and  claws  intact.  Fish 
that  are  sun-dried,  and  highly  malodorous,  are  acceptable.  Cooking 
is  not  always  considered  necessary.  In  Korea,  as  in  China,  a  species 
of  small  fish  is  preferred  -raw,  dipped  into  some  piquant  sauce. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
SIBERIA  AND   MANCHURIA 

Belation  of  Siberia  to  Russia — How  Separated  from  Manchuria — Inhabitants — ^How  the 
Country  Was  Settled — Siberian  Prisoners — Manchuria  at  the  Beginning  of  the  War — 
Harbin  the  Moscow  of  Asia — A  Commercial  Power — Natural  History  of  Eastern  Asia. 

AMERICANS  "have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  Siberia  as  one  of 
the  most  miserable  countries  of  the  world,  inhabited  only  by  ticket- 
of-leave  men,  or  convicts,  and  it  is  only  during  very  recent  years  that 
this  estimation  of  the  northernmost  country  of  Asia  has  been  modified. 
Today  it  is  traversed  by  the  longest  railway  lin^  in  the  world,  its  lengfth 
being  more  than  twice  that  of  the  connecting  systems  comprising  any 
one  of  the  lines  between  New  York  and  San  Francisco.  The  Amur 
River,  one  of  the  greatest  waterways  of  the  world,  forms  the  boundary 
line  between  Manchuria  and  Eastern  Siberia  for  the  greater  distance 
across  the  north  of  Manchuria. 

What  Exile  Really  Means. 

To  most  men  in  our  country  "exiled  to  Siberia"  is  looked  upon  as 
a  banishment  from  home  and  home  associations.  The  great  majority 
of  the  exiles  are  composed  of  peasants  who,  through  want  of  sobriety 
or  steady  work,  failed  to  lay  by  sufficient  money  to  transport  them  ta 
the  land  of  gold,  as  they  called  Siberia,  and  hence  committed  offenses 
of  sufficient  gravity  to  secure  a  passage  to  this  Eldorado  at  the  expense 
of  the  Czar.  Should  the  convict  prove  obedient  to  the  penal  regulations 
he  is  immediately  paroled  and  very  little  thought  paid  in  old  Russia. 
to  the  incident  of  his  life  for  which  he  was  sent  to  Siberia. 

There  are  today  in  the  larger  towns  of  Siberia  very  many  leading 
citizens,  prominent  men  in  the  professions  of  law  and  medicine  and 
even  in  civil  administration,  who  have  been  banished  from  that  society 

259 


26o  SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA. 

into  which  they  were  born.  In  the  new  land  these  men  have,  in  a  very 
great  majority  of  cases,  begun  new  lives  and  have  proved  themselves 
good  citizens  and  most  desirable  acquisitions  to  the  civilization  of  the 
rough  frontier  life. 

The  Class  Known  As  Colonists. 

Fully  one-half  of  the  exiles  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  criminals  at  all, 
but  are  sent  across  the  Ural  Mountains  into  Asiatic  Russia  because  they 
are  a  nuisance  and  expense  to  the  parish  in  Russia  where  they  formerly 
lived.  These  are  the  ones  that  the  police  are  subject  to  keep  their  eyes 
upon.    They  are  classed  as  colonists. 

The  purely  criminal  prisoners  are  of  two  classes :  First,  those  who 
have  forfeited  all  civil  rights;  second,  those  who,  though  condemned 
and  undergoing  long  sentences,  are  allowed  to  retain  the  hope  of  paying 
their  debt  to  society  and  of  regaining  their  lost  positions  in  the  world 
at  some  future  time.  The  convict  of  the  first  category  is  indeed  un- 
known to  the  world ;  his  property  goes  to  his  heirs,  his  wife  can  remarry 
without  divorce.  The  sentence  which  has  been  imposed  upon  the  hus- 
band-criminal carries  with  it  for  the  wife  a  divorce. 

Family  Ties  Severed. 

The  passage  across  the  Urals  severs  all  ties  between  family  and 
friends.  His  name  is  taken  from  him,  consequently  his  signature  is 
legally  worthless.  He  is  a  roving,  nameless  creature.  The  second  class, 
those  who  are  not  deprived  of  their  civil  rights  by  sentence  of  court, 
however  heavy  the  sentence  may  be  imposed  upon  them,  have  really 
nothing  to  complain  of,  except  the  lot  of  a  colonist  in  a  new  land.  If 
they  behave  well,  they,  too,  are  almost  immediately  paroled;  they  be- 
come free  colonists  in  every  respect  save  one :  they  cannot  return  to 
Russia  until  the  expiration  of  the  sentence  to  which  they  were  originally 
condemned.  In  this  way  i.iany  of  them  are  probably  saved  from  the 
degrading  associations  into  which  they  fell.  Such  a  colonist  is  given 
a  piece  of  land,  an  outfit  and  a  sum  of  money.  The  government  seeks 
to  draw  the  veil  of  charity  over  his  past.  Nearly  all  of  his  neighbors  are 
men  with  unfortunate  antecedents  similar  to  his  own.     They  shift  for 


SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  261 

themselves  and  average  well  as  citizens.  Wives  are  permitted  to  ac- 
company their  husbands  when  exiled  to  Siberia,  except  m  the  first  class. 
The  most  conclusive  proof  as  to  what  the  life  of  the  average  con- 
vict really  is  is  furnished  upon  the  best  of  evidence  by  convicts  them- 
selves, who  certainly  ought  to  know  when  they  are  well  ofT.  Not  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  exiles,  according  to  the  government  reports,  elect 
to  return  to  Russia  when  their  time  expires.  It  is  claimed  that  they 
have  found  life  in  Siberia  much  more  agreeable  than  in  Russia,  so  they 
become  colonists  of  their  own  free  will  and  choice  and  remain  in  Siberia. 

The  Liberty  of  Political  Prisoners. 

The  political  prisoners  have  great  liberty.  The  usual  short  period 
of  confinement  before  the  ticket-of-leave  is  granted  to  this  class  is  gen- 
erally sent  in  the  prison  at  Nertschinsk.  So  far  from  the  political  pris- 
oner being  worked  to  death,  as  is  generally  represented,  they  neither 
work  in  mines  nor  perform  manual  labor  anywhere  else,  they  are  not 
compelled  to  work.  When  prisoners  of  this  class  are  without  the  means 
to  purchase  the  luxuries  which  they  are  permitted  to  enjoy,  the  prison 
authorities  endeavor  to  procure  for  them  remunerative  work  so  that 
they  may  with  their  savings  eke  out  the  rude  fare  of  the  prison  table. 

Convicts  Divided  Into  Bands. 

Among  the  Siberian  prisoners  are  found  Japanese,  Chinese,  Koreans 
and  Russians,  all  messing  and  rooming  together.  They  are  divided 
into  companies  of  ten,  each  division  electing  a  captain,  who  becomes 
responsible  in  the  eyes  of  the  prison  authorities  for  the  nine  men  who 
have  honored  him  with  their  votes. 

Whenever  a  detachment  of  ten  men  is  responsible  for  some  infringe- 
ment of  prison  rules  and  the  individual  delinquent  cannot  be  ascertained 
the  captain  receives  the  punishment.  This  system  works  well,  for  when 
the  captain  has  to  bear  the  brunt  of  all  punishment,  his  nine  com- 
panions not  unnautrally  feel  bound  to  spare  him  the  infliction  of  pun- 
ishment as  often  as  they  reasonably  can  out  of  the  brotherly  feeling 
which  has  sprung  up  from  among  a  common  misfortune. 


^e2  SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  ^ 

The  Largest  Country  of  Asia. 

It  was  more  than  three  hundred  years  ago  when  Vasil  Yermak,  a 
Cossack  criminal,  set  out  with  a  band  of  followers  across  the  Ural  Moun- 
tains to  what  was  then  an  unknown  country.  He  penterated  Western 
Siberia  and  held  the  territory.  He  died  soon  after  his  arrival  there, 
however,  and  the  country  in  1584  was  claimed  by  Russia. 

To  the  original  Siberia  much  has  been  added  on  the  south  taken 
piecemeail  from  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  strange  it  is  that  this  immense 
area  of  4,833,496  square  miles,  remained  so  long  a  blank  in  its  possi- 
bilities. 

Siberia,  the  largest  country  of  Asia,  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  bar- 
ren and  unproductive  country.  It  has  been  considered  by  the  world  as 
a  land  of  exile  and  fit  for  little  else.  Today  it  is  traversed  by  the  longest 
railway  line  in  the  world,  its  length  being  more  than  twice  that  of  the 
connecting  systems  comprising  any  one  of  the  lines  btween  New  York 
and  San  Francisco. 

Russian  Occupation  of  Manchuria. 

Russia  furnished  in  Manchuria  a  record  of  amazement  in  the  build- 
ing of  one  of  her  cities,  almost  rivaling  in  rapidity  the  astonishing  record 
of  our  own  great  West. 

In  the  building  of  such  cities  as  Vladivostock,  Dalny,  and  Port  Ar- 
thur, Russia  demonstrated  her  power  and  purpose  on  the  Pacific  in  line 
with  the  world's  conception  of  her  character;  but  in  the  construction  of 
the  wonderful  city  of  Harbin  she  displayed  an  altogether  different  type 
of  activity  from  what  we  are  prone  to  attribute  to  her. 

It  is  in  this  city  more  than  in  all  the  others  combined  that  Russia 
asserted  her  intentions  of  becoming  an  active  industrial  force  in  the 
.affairs  of  the  Orient,  and  her  people  gave  the  place  the  title  of  the 
Moscow  of  Asia. 

The  City  of  Harbin. 

The  city  is  located  on  the  Sungari  River,  at  the  point  where  the 
Manchurian  branch  of  the   Siberian   Railway  crosses   the   stream   and 


SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  263 

where  the  Chinese  Eastern  branch  starts  south  to  Dalny  and  Port  Ar- 
thur. It  is  about  350  miles  west  of  Vladivostock  and  600  miles  north  of 
Port  Arthur.  Its  location  is  the  geographical  center  of  Manchuria,  and 
from  present  prospects  it  is  to  become  the  commercial  center  as  vrell. 
The  city  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  for  hundreds  of  miles  with  a  rich 
and  productive  agricultural  country,  producing  corn,  wheat,  oats,  bar- 
ley, beans,  millet,  hemp,  tobacco,  vegetables,  and  some  fruits.  Minerals 
and  timber  and  great  areas  of  grazing  lands  also  surround  it. 

The  place  consists  of  the  old  town,  three  miles  from  the  central  de- 
pot; Prestin,  or  the  river  town,  the  present  commercial  center;  and 
the  administration  town,  in  close  proximity  to  the  railway  station.  Be- 
fore the  railway  engineers  established  this  as  their  headquarters  there 
was  no  native  town  in  this  vicinity,  and  the  entire  place  is  therefore  a 
Russian  oroduct. 

A  Russian  Metropolis. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  it  was  as  distinctly  a  Russian  city  as 
though  it  were  located  in  the  heart  of  Russia,  and  none  but  Russians 
and  Chinese  were  permitted  to  own  land,  construct  buildings,  or  en- 
gage in  any  permanent  enterprise.  The  city  was  created  by  the  Russian 
Government,  under  the  management  of  the  Manchurian  Railway  Com- 
pany. The  land  for  many  miles  in  each  direction  had  been  secured  so 
as  to  make  it  impossible  for  any  foreign  influence  to  secure  a  profit  or 
foothold  close  to  the  city,  and  foreigners  were  not  recognized  as  having 
any  rights  whatever,  but  were  permitted  there  by  sufferance.  The  chief 
railway  engineer  was  the  administrator  of  the  city,  and  had  complete 
control  of  everything,  but  a  new  scheme  for  the  government  of  Man- 
churia suggested  some  form  of  municipal  organization. 

Population  of  Harbin. 

In  1900  the  place  began  to  assume  importance  as  a  center  of  railway 
management,  and  in  1901  the  population  had  grown  to  12,000  Russians; 
in  1902,  to  20,000;  by  May,  1903,  to  44,000;  and  in  October,  1903,  a 
census  showed  a  population  of  60,000,  exclusive  of  soldiers.  Of  these, 
400  are  Japanese  and  300  of  all  other  nationalities,  including  Germans, 


264  SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA. 

Austrians,  Greeks  and  Turks.    All  the  rest  were  Russians.    There  were 
no  Americans. 

The  railway  and  administration  employees,  including  families,  con- 
stituted 1 1, GOO  of  the  population.  The  Chinese  population  was  about 
40,000,  located  in  a  special  settlement.  The  ratio  of  women  to  men  was 
as  follows:  Japanese,  120  per  cent;  Russians,  44  per  cent;  Chinese,  1.8 
oer  cent;  average  of  women,  14.3  per  cent. 

A  Railway  Center. 

In  1904  Harbin  was  the  center  of  the  entire  railway  administration 
of  Manchuria,  and,  as  the  Russian  commercial  enterprises  of  the  far 
East  were  under  the  direction  of  the  railway  company,  it  was  also  the 
center  of  Russian  industrial  and  commercial  development.  It  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  civil  courts  and  the  chief  military  post,  and  the 
main  center  of  control  of  all  the  vast  army  of  railway  guards.  The  ad- 
ministration city,  therefore,  consisted  of  all  the  public  and  private  build- 
ings and  shops  necessary  for  these  various  departments.  Residences 
for  the  employees  covered  the  largest  area  of  this  division  of  this  mar- 
velous city.  The  total  administration  expenditure  on  the  city  at  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities  was  $15,450,000. 

Harbin  was  started  primarily  as  a  military  center  and  an  adminis- 
tration town  for  the  government  and  direction  of  railway  affairs.  Its 
growth  into  a  splendid  commercial  and  manufacturing  city  was  not 
originally  provided  for  by  the  promoters  and  it  was  somewhat  of  a 
surprise  to  them,  but  the  fever  of  making  it  a  great  Russian  commercial 
and  manufacturing  city  took  possession  of  the  railway  management,  and 
every  system  of  promotion  and  protection  that  could  be  devised  to  in- 
crease its  growth  along  these  lines  was  energetically  encouraged. 

The  capital  for  most  of  the  private  enterprises  was  furnished  by 
Siberian  Jews.  Chinese  furnished  money  for  the  construction  of  some 
of  the  finest  private  buildings,  such  as  hotels,  store  rooms,  etc.  In  the 
administration  part  of  the  city  no  private  buildings  of  any  kind  were 
permitted.  The  Russian-Chinese  Bank  was  the  only  banking  institution 
m  the  place. 


SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  265 

Industries  of  Harbin. 

The  leading  industry  of  Harbin  was  the  manufacture  of  flour.  The 
next  industry  of  importance  was  the  production  of  the  Russian  Uquor, 
vodka.  In  1904  there  were  several  companies  engaged  in  the  meat- 
packing business.  They  cured  hams,  bacon,  and  all  varieties  of  smoked 
meats  and  produced  excellent  articles.  The  hogs  and  cattle  were  grain 
fed  and  make  splendid  meats,  and  the  Russians  are  experts  in  preparing 
it  for  markets. 

Manchuria  is  productive  in  wheat,  cattle,  sheep,  hogs,  millet,  barley, 
oats,  corn,  beans,  furs,  hides,  wool,  bristles,  bean  oil,  bean  cake,  hemp, 
tobacco,  and  timber,  and  has  various  undeveloped  mineral  resources;  in 
fact,  it  has  all  the  natural  elements  for  the  foundation  of  a  great  city. 

Russian  Investment  in  Manchuria. 

The  chief  engineer  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Russian 
railways  in  Manchuria,  stated  that  Russia,  at  the  time  of  the  war  with 
Japan,  had  expended  in  railways  in  Manchuria  $139,050,000.  Add  to  this 
her  investments  in  fortifications  and  in  the  construction  of  the  cties  of 
Port  Arthur,  Dalny,  Harbin,  and  other  places  and  it  is  a  very  mod- 
erate estimate  to  place  her  investments  in  permanent  properties  in  Man- 
churia at  a  total  of  $257,500,000 

Russia's  Commercial  Advantage. 

The  following  is  from  a  United  States  government  report  issued 
just  before  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  Russia  and  Japan: 

"A  study  of  conditions  in  Vladivostock,  Harbin,  and  other  districts 
is  not  j>articiilarly  encouraging  to  the  idea  of  extension  of  American 
trade  in  Manchuria  in  any  line  that  Russia  is  prepared  to  supply-  A 
knowledge  of  the  earnest  intention  of  the  Russo-Chinese  Bank  to  press 
the  sale  of  Russian  goods,  a  slight  insight  into  the  methods  and  determi- 
nation of  Russian  railways  to  find  a  market  for  the  products  of  Russia, 
and  the  interest  displayed  in  developing  resources  along  their  lines  for 
Russians  and  Chinese  only,  taken  in  connection  with  the  natural  wealth 
and  resources  of  the  country,  do  not  favor  the  hope  that  under  a  Rus- 
sian regime  our  trade  in  Manchuria  will  be  as  large  as  it  was  before. 


:266  SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA. 

A  Great  Problem. 

"If  we  take  into  further  consideration  the  fact  that  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment— by  subsidies  and  bounties  and  through  its  banks  and  railways 
— is  engaging  in  industrial  and  commercial  pursuits  and  calculate  the 
cheap  food,  cheap  and  reliable  labor,  and  the  vast  mineral  resources  that 
she  will  have  at  her  command  on  the  Pacific,  the  question  of  the  Man- 
churian  market  becomes  comparatively  insignificant,  and  we  find  our- 
selves face  to  face  with  the  greater  problem  of  the  market  of  all  Asia. 

"With  millions  of  cheap  and  efficient  Chinese  laborers,  with  vast  coal 
fields  bordering  on  the  Pacific,  with  mountains  of  iron  and  copper,  vast 
forests,  and  enormous  areas  of  agricultural  land — producing  now  the 
cheapest  food  in  the  world — what  is  to  prevent  Russia,  if  her  apparent 
plans  are  realized,  from  becoming  a  dominating  factor  in  the  commer- 
cial development  of  the  Far  East.  One  cannot  view  the  marvelous 
growth  of  a  city  like  Harbin  or  observe  the  cities  of  Vladivostock,  Dalny, 
and  Port  Arthur,  and  the  great  Siberian  Railway  without  pondering 
seriously  the  meaning  of  it  all  in  the  future  of  Russia  on  the  Pacific." 

Chief  Food  Crops  of  Eastern  Asia. 

In  the  plains  country  of  Manchuria  around  Mukden,  the  Manchurian 
farmers  raise  vast  quantities  of  indigo,  while  the  coast  regions  and  river 
bottoms  yield  rice,  one  of  the  chief  food-crops  of  the  Eastern  Asiatic 
peoples. 

Further  up,  we  find  fields  of  wheat,  barley,  and  millet,  according 
to  the  character  of  the  soil  and  the  altitude.  While  the  weather  is 
very  cold  in  winter,  falling  to  ten  or  fifteen  degrees  below  zero,  it  is 
likewise  hot  in  summer,  the  thermometer  reaching  ninety  to  one  hun- 
dred degrees,  and  hence  the  Manchurians  also  raise  cotton  and  tobacco, 
in  those  sections  where  the  soil  is  suitable. 

Domestic  Animals  of  Manchurians. 

The  principal  domestic  animals  of  the  Manchurians  are  the  shaggy 
little  pony,  common  to  all  China,  and  horned  cattle. 

One  of  the  most  important  creatures  of  the  country,  however,  is 


SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  267 

the  dog.  This  animal  is  about  the  size  of  the  American  setter,  with  a 
long  ridge  of  hair  running  down  the  back,  with  long  legs  and  ears, 
giving  it  a  very  wolfish  appearance ;  in  color  they  are  black,  white,  fawn, 
mottled,  and  some  brindled.  The  skins  of  these  animals  have  become 
an  important  article  of  commerce,  being  exported  to  the  London  fur 
market,  where  they  are  sold  for  robes,  to  the  amount  of  three  to  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  a  year. 

There  are  thousands  of  small  dog  farms,  scattered  over  the  country, 
and  along  the  eastern  border  of  Mongolia,  where  from  a  score  to  some 
hundreds  of  dogs  are  annually  reared  on  each  farm,  where  they  con- 
stitute in  many  cases  the  chief  source  of  wealth. 

Their  value  principally  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  skins  take  a  brilliant 
i)lack  dye,  and  thus  colored  are  manufactured  into  sleigh  robes  and  are 
seen  throughout  all  the  colder  parts  of  the  world,  where  they  are  used 
by  people  who  generally  do  not  know  what  they  are. 

This,  however,  is  true  of  most  furs. 

There  are  also  many  goat  farms  of  a  similar  character,  whose  prod- 
uct not  only  produces  food  for  the  natives,  but  is  sent  all  over  the  world 
in  the  shape  of  rugs  and  robe?- 

Ths  Russian  Sable. 

Northern,  Manchuria  is  one  of  the  chief  fields  for  the  production 
of  the  famous  "Russian  sable,"  a  little  animal  somewhat  resembling  the 
American  mink  in  general  appearance,  except  that  it  lives  in  the  forests 
instead  of  taking  to  the  water. 

This  sable  is  the  most  valuable  fur  in  the  world,  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  skin;  while  no  larger  than  a  small  mink,  it  usually  brings 
in  the  market  not  less  than  $25  in  an  unfinished  condition.  This  costly 
fur,  while  found  throughout  Siberia,  is  most  abundant  in  the  lower  Amur 
valley  and  in  Northern  Manchuria  of  any  place  in  the  world. 

Its  pursuit  forms  a  very  important  business  in  these  regions.  The 
hunter  has  many  a  hard  day  of  exposure  and  toil  in  its  chase,  following  it 
through  the  snow  through  the  vast  wastes  of  the  mountain  and  tim- 
bered regions  during  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year.    The  little 


268  SIBERIA  AND  MANXHURIA. 

creature  is  taken  in  traps,  and  if  the  Mancliu  hunter  can  only  succeed 
in  getting  three  or  four  of  them  during  the  winter  he  thinks  himself 
fortunate.  Many  of  these  skins  are  used  for  Mandarin  robes,  while  the 
tails  are  exported  to  the  London  market.  The  complete  skin  is  also 
sent  all  over  the  world,  where  it  is  highly  appreciated  in  all  the  fash- 
ionable capitals  of  Europe  and  America. 

Inasmuch  as  one  of  the  most  popular  furs  sold  by  dealers  in  America 
is  jet  black,  called  sable,  which  is  in  reality  American  skunk,  it  may 
be  interesting  to  mention  the  exact  color  of  the  Russian  sable.  The 
^in  is  from  nine  to  twelve  inches  long,  including  the  tail,  which  is  four 
to  five  inches ;  the  color  varies  considerably,  brown  and  dark  brown 
being  the  predominant  shades ;  light  brown,  silvery,  and  animals  inter- 
mixed with  silvery  or  white  hairs  are  by  no  means  uncommon.  Once 
in  a  great  while,  a  pure  white  one  is  found.  From  some  neighborhoods 
the  ground  of  the  fur,  close  to  the  skin,  has  a  bluish  tint,  and  the 
tail  is  sometimes  tipped  with  white.  The  finest  dark  or  almost  black 
skins  are  usually  bought  for  Paris,  London  and  New  York,  while  the 
silvery  skins  are  sent  to  Russia. 

The  Thibetan  Bear. 

One  of  the  largest  wild  animals  of  Manchuria  and  Korea  is  the 
Himalayan  or  Thibetan  bear.  This  is  the  animal  which  the  Germans 
call  Kragenbar.  Tliis  animal,  which  extends  from  northern  India  north- 
eastward, lives  in  the  caves  of  the  mountains,  and  is  a  fierce  animal,  diffi- 
cnlt  to  dislodge  from  his  native  haunts.  His  color  is  black,  grizzly,  or 
light  brownish  grey.  The  best  known  form  of  this  animal  has  a  black, 
glossy  coat,  with  a  white  crescent  on  his  chest  and  a  patch  of  the  same 
color  on  the  chin.  The  animal  is  very  retiring  in  his  habits,  and  it  is 
said  that  he  is  willing  to  be  let  alone,  but  that  when  pressed  and  hunted 
to  his  den  he  is  a  very  difficult  customer  to  handle.  Like  "B'rer  Rab- 
bit," he  lies  low  in  the  daytime,  but  at  night  sallies  forth,  and  will  eat 
most  anything  that  comes  to  hand.  He  will  ravage  the  crops  growing 
in  the  fields,  will  pluck  the  fruits,  gather  acorns  and  nuts,  and  does  not 
despise  now  and  then  a  kid  or  a  puppy  from  the  Manchurian  stodc 
farms. 


SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA.  269 

The  Bushy  Tailed  Cat. 

In  Manchuria  is  found  an  animal  which  is  very  little  known,  although 
of  late  years  its  skin  has  found  its  way  into  the  fur  markets  of  the  world 
in  considerable  numbers.  It  is  called  the  red-spotted  or  bushy-tailed 
cat.  The  animal  is  also  found  in  Japan;  its  general  color  is  of  a  light - 
hrown,  covered  with  numerous  red  spots,  from  whence  it  derives  its 
name.  It  is  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  cat,  perhaps  slightly  larger^ 
and  while  its  life  story  has  not  yet  been  written  it  presumably  comes 
from  the  wilder  mountainous  regions  of  the  countries  it  inhabits. 

Other  Wild  Animals. 

Manchuria  also  possesses  wolves  of  two  kinds — the  red,  or  mountain 
wolf,  and  the  common  wolf,  which  is  spread  throughout  the  Eastern  con- 
tinent, formerly  reaching  to  the  British  Isles.  There  is  also  a  bright- 
colored,  rather  small  red  fox,  a  beautiful  little  animal,  recently  popular 
for  the  manufacture  of  ladies'  collarettes,  both  in  natural  tints  and  dyed 
a  glossy  black,  or  smoky  blue. 

Th«re  are  also  to  be  found  the  stag,  roebuck,  reindeer,  lynx,  hedge- 
hog, rat,  ermine,  pole-cat,  bat,  and  the  squirrel,  common  to  the  northern 
half  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  and  well  known  to  commerce.  In 
Manchuria,  the  back  of  the  squirrel  is  a  very  dark  blue.  It  is  a  pecu- 
liarity of  this  animal  that  starting  in  the  British  Isles  and  France  of  a 
grayish  color  it  gradually  grows  darker  until  by  the  time  it  reaches 
Siberia  it  has  become  blue,  and  when  it  reaches  Japan  it  is  black.  It 
is  the  same  animal  all  the  way  from  England  to  Nippon;  white  under- 
neath and  gray,  blue  or  black  above. 

Birds  of  Manchuria. 

Manchuria  has  likewise  an  abundance  of  birds,  perhaps  the  most 
famous  of  which  is  the  Mongolian  lark ;  this  little  fellow  takes  the  place 
occupied  by  the  mocking-bird  in  America.  It  is  trapped  in  great  num- 
bers and  shipped  to  the  cities  of  China  and  the  East,  where  it  is  very 
popular  as  a  cage  bird.  It  is  a  remarkable  vocalist,  imitating  the  sound 
of  any  living  thing  almost  with  which  it  comes  in  contact;  it  learns  the 


270  SIBERIA  AND  MANCHURIA. 

songs  of  other  birds,  the  crowing  of  cocks,  the  cackling  of  hens,  the 
barking  of  dogs,  the  hissing  and  mewing  of  cats,  and  from  this  pecuHar- 
ity  it  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem  as  a  pet  in  almost  every  Chinese 
home.  The  catching  and  marketing  of  this  lark  forms  a  no-inconsider- 
able source  of  revenue  for  the  Manchurian  peasants. 

Among  other  birds  observed  in  various  parts  of  the  country  may 
be  mentioned  the  Mongolian  crane,  the  eagle,  doves,  kingfisher,  pintail 
duck,  dusky  duck,  several  varieties  of  teal,  black  duck,  blue  heron, 
buzzard,  one  or  two  varieties  of  hawk,  the  raven,  kestrel,  white  crane,, 
oyster-catcher,  bank  swallow,  several  gulls,  wagtail,  the  osprey  or  fish 
hawk,  blue-jay,  several  varieties  of  wood-pecker,  nut-hatch,  white- 
winged  tern,  common  tern,  short-eared  owl,  red-necked  nightingale,  one 
or  two  members  of  the  partridge  tribe  and  the  black  thrush. 

Trees  and  Plants. 

Among  the  trees  and  plants  we  may  mention  the  fir,  two  varieties 
of  maple,  alder,  columbine,  wormwood,  several  varieties  of  birch,  dog- 
wood, hawthorne,  three  or  four  varieties  of  cypress,  spindle  tree,  gen- 
tian, walnut,  juniper,  pitch  pine,  poplar,  wintergreen,  Mongolian  oak,^ 
Rhododendron,  the  bramble,  elder,  spiraea,  thyme,  lime-tree,  several 
varieties  of  whortleberry. 

One  of  the  failures  morally  of  the  Chinese  is  opium  smoking.  While 
the  English  by  force  of  arms  have  opened  the  ports  of  China  in  order 
to  give  a  new  market  to  the  poppy  farmers  of  India,  the  Manchurians 
produce  a  considerable  amount  of  the  opium  used  in  China,  and  large 
fields  of  poppies  are  cultivated  in  this  province. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY 

The  First  Shot — Port  Arthur  the  Scene — The  Russian  View — Statement  of  Japanese  Min- 
ister at  Washington — Hostilities  at  Chemulpo — Russia's  Reply  in  the  Hands  of  Alex- 
ieff — Preparation  for  War — The  Unanimity  of  the  Japanese  Nation — The  Diverse 
Elements  of  Russia — Russia's  Presentation  of  the  Diplomatic  Negotiations — The 
Czar's  Supreme  Manifesto — Secretary  Hay's  Note. 

WHEN  Japan  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  with  Russia, on  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1904,  Asia,  containing  half  of  the  world's  population,  be- 
came a  theater  of  war.  Actual  hostilities,  however,  were  not  inaugu- 
rated until  February  8th,  three  days  after  diplomatic  relations  had 
ceased.  Reports  early  indicated  that  Japan  fired  the  first  shot  of  the 
war,  Port  Arthur  being  the  scene  of  conflict. 

Russia  likened  the  sinking  of  her  warships  at  Port  Arthur  to  the 
blowing  up  of  the  Maine  in  the  harbor  of  Havana.  The  case,  how- 
ever, is  far  from  analogous  to  the  opening  up  of  the  Spanish-American 
war.  This  comparison  was  advanced  by  Russia  and  her  friends,  the 
French,  in  the  heat  of  their  excitement  over  the  Russian  losses. 

When  Hostilities  Really  Began. 

The  Japanese  minister  to  the  United  States  at  Washington  wrote 
a  statement  on  February  nth  for  the  author  of  this  work,  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  war  began  at  Chemulpo,  Korea,  when  the  Rus- 
sians fired  upon  the  Japanese  fleet  which  was  convoying  transports 
loaded  with  soldiers  to  go  ashore  on  Korean  soil. 

However  this  may  be,  the  hostilities,  at  Port  Arthur  and  Chemulpo 
began  on  the  same  day,  namely,  Monday,  February  8th. 

It  was  on  February  4th  that  the  Russian  reply  to  Japan  regarding 
the  former's  intentions  in  Manchuria  and  Korea  was  forwarded  to  Vice- 
roy Alexieff.  It  remained  in  his  hands  for  approval  with  a  view  to  pre- 
senting it  to  the  Japanese  government  at  Tokio. 

271 


2/2 


THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY. 


The  Japanese   had   a   very   correct   idea   concerning  what   Russia's 

answer  was  to  be,  and  the   "Little   Brown  Yankees"  of  the  far  East 

decided  that  it  was  not  satisfactory.     This  conclusion  being  reached, 

carried  with  it  the  determination,  on  the  part  of  Japan,  that  the  only 

alternative  was  war. 

Preparations  for  War. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  that  Japan  had  been  preparing 
for  war  during  several  weeks.  Great  quantities  of  supplies  in  the 
way  of  ammunition  and  food  products  were  purchased  in  the  United 
States.  The  ships  of  the  Nippon  Yusem  Kasia  (Japan  Steamship  line), 
as  well  as  the  ships  of  other  Japanese  merchant  lines,  were  impressed 
for  army  transports  and  auxiliary  cruisers.  There  is  evidence,  also, 
that  Japan  had  sent  some  troops  into  Korea  before  hostilities  between 
the  naval  fleets  actually  began. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  Russia  had  secretly 
invaded  portions  of  Korea  adjacent  to  Manchuria  with  her  troops.  In 
other  ways  also,  Russia,  undoubtedly,  was  making  every  preparation 
for  the  anticipated  war  with  Japan.  But  Russia  is  big  and  massive. 
Her  population  is  a  very  mixed  one,  creating  a  great  diversity  in  the 
sentiments  of  her  people. 

Unanimity  of  Purpose, 

This  is  not  true  of  Japan.  When  it  comes  to  war  the  Japanese,  as 
a  people,  stand  with  their  government  to  the  last  man.  There  is  no 
country  in  the  world,  without  a  doubt,  where  patriotism  is  a  passion 
more  than  it  is  among  Japan's  forty  odd  million  people.  This  condition 
tended  to  inflam-e  the  entire  Japanese  population  to  a  war  fever  of  the 
most  intense  type.  The  sentiment  for  war,  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 
against  Russia  was  universal.  -There  was  not  a  single  element  among 
the  Mikado's  subjects  which  did  not  actually  favor  immediate  war. 

The  Japanese  have  been  in  a  warlike  attitude  towards  Russia  ever 
since  the  former's  complete  victory  in  1895  over  the  Chinese.  In  that 
war  Japan  took  possession  of  the  Lia-o-tung  Peninsula  of  Manchuria, 
at  the  extreme  point  of  which  is  now  located  Russia's  naval  and  mili- 
tary city.  Port  Arthur,  and  the  new  commercial  city  and  port,  Dalny, 


THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY.  273 

fifteen  miles  from  Port  Arthur,  which  Russia  has  essayed  to  establish 
as  the  great  mart  of  the  far  East.  The  name  of  Dalny  was  adopted  in 
1901  by  Russia. 

The  maps  and  atlases  made  previous  to  that  year  indicate  the  place 
where  Dalny  is  located  by  the  old  Chinese  name,  Talien-wan. 

Lost  the  Fruits  of  Her  Victory.  1 

The  Japanese  believed,  and  with  a  strong  element  of  truth  on  their 
side,  that  she  had  lost  the  fruits  of  her  victory  over  China  to  Russia. 
The  world  knows  that  Russia,  by  diplomacy  with  the  cowed  and  fear- 
stricken  Chinese,  has  secured  a  foothold  in  Manchuria  which  made  that 
province  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  Russian 
possession. 

Russia  is  a  land-locked  nation,  with,  practically,  no  territory  facing 
on  the  great  oceans.  If  there  is  on  ambition  of  Russia's  that  is  para- 
mount to  all  others,  it  is  the  desire  to  control  the  gateway  to  northern 
China,  the  Gulf  of  Pechili,  into  which  the  sharply  pointed  Manchuria 
Peninsula  projects  for  more  than  two  hundred  miles. 

Japan  Justified  in  Her  Suspicions. 

Korea  is  a  peninsula  also.  In  connects  with  the  main  land  of  the 
continent  right  against  Manchuria.  The  two  countries  border  each 
other  for  nearly  four  hundred  miles.  With  the  exception  of  the  penin- 
sula end  of  Manchuria  that  country  is  entirely  shut  of¥  from  the  sea  by 
Korea,  Korea  extends  into  that  part  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  called  the 
Yellow  Sea  and  the  Sea  of  Japan  for  five  hundred  miles  against  the 
waters  of  the  former  and  seven  hundred  miles  against  the  waters  of  the 
latter.  This  indicates  what  an  enormous  peninsula  Korea  is  and  the 
extensive  coast  line  of  navigable  waters  which  she  possesses.  The 
Korean  Peninsula  commands  the  approach  to  the  Manchurian  Penin- 
sula. Should  Korea  ever  become  a  possession  of  one  of  the  great  powers 
it  will  be  seen  what  advantage  would  accrue  to  its  possessor  as  a  naval 
and  military  base  commanding  the  situation  in  the  north  of  the  far  East 
better  than  any  other  territory  that  could  be  occupied.  There  is  no  doubt 
but  that  Russia  has  had  longing  eyes  on  this  choicest  of  strategic  points 


274  THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY. 

in  the  far  East.  There  is  every  reason  to  beHeve  that  Japan  was  justi- 
fied in  looking  with  great  suspicion  upon  Russia's  intentions  regarding 
Korea. 

Korea  extends  its  long  arm  out  from  Manchuria  in  a  southeasterly 
direction,  until  its  farthest  end  is  very  close  to  the  southern  end  of 
Japan.  Fusan,  Korea's  southernmost  port,  faces  the  entrance  to  the 
Japan  Sea,  the  ideal  and  placid  sea  of  the  world.  From  Moji  to  Nagasaki 
it  is  a  little  more  than  a  long  ferry-boat  ride  across  to  Korea's  extreme 

point. 

Japan  Fighting  for  Her  Life. 

It  will  be  seen  how  Russia  would  become  a  menace  to  Japan  should 
she  become  possessed  of  Korea.  The  Japanese  believe  that  their  very 
existence  depends  upon  Korea  maintaining  her  independence  and  in- 
tegrity. Korea,  the  hermit  nation,  is  powerless  to  defend  herself 
against  any  power  that  might  attack  her. 

To  sum  up,  Russia  desired  to  come  into  possession  of  these  two 
far  Eastern  countries,  in  particular,  to  give  her  complete  command  of 
the  ocean  in  the  far  East.  In  other  words,  Russia's  greed  for  territory 
led  her  to  encroach  upon  Japan  regardless  of  the  duties  and  rights  of 
the  latter  in  the  far  East,  as  well  as  those  of  the  other  great  powers 
of  the  world.  At  least,  this  was  the  Japanese  way  of  looking  at  the 
question.  Those  who  look  at  the  problem  from  the  Japanese  stand- 
point claim  that  Russia  has  brought  this  war  upon  herself  by  exasperat- 
ing Japan  with  her  consummate  greed  and  selfishness.  On  the  other 
hand,  Japan  is  fighting  for  her  life  as  a  nation. 

Russia's  Presentation  of  Diplomatic  Relations. 

On  February  9th  the  Russian  foreign  office  at  St.  Petersburg  sent 
out  a  lengthy  official  statement  of  the  diplomatic  negotiaions  which 
led  up  to  the  rupture.  The  full  text  of  the  paper  from  the  Russian  point 
of  view  follows : 

"Last  year  the  Tokio  cabinet,  under  the  pretext  of  establishing 
the  balance  of  power  and  a  more  settled  order  of  things  on  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific,  submitted  to  the  imperial  government  a  proposal  for  a 


THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY.  275 

revision  of  the  existing;  treaties  with  Korea.  Russia  consented,  and 
Viceroy  Alexieff  was  charged  to  draw  up  a  project  for  a  new  under- 
standing with  Japan  in  co-operation  with  the  Russian  minister  at  Tokio, 
who  was  instructed  with  the  negotiations  with  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment. Although  the  exchange  of  views  with  the  Tokio  cabinet  on  this 
subject  were  of  a  friendly  character,  Japanese  social  circles  and  the 
local  and  foreign  press  attempted  in  every  way  to  produce  a  warlike 
ferment  among  the  Japanese  and  to  drive  the  government  into  an  armed 
conflict  with  Russia.  Under  the  influence  thereof  the  Tokio  cabinet 
began  to  formulate  greater  and  greater  demands  in  the  negotiations, 
at  the  same  time  taking  most  extensive  measures  to  make  the  country 
ready  for  war. 

"All  these  circumstances  could  not,  of  course,  disturb  Russia's 
equanimity,  but  they  induced  her  also  to  take  military  and  naval  meas- 
ures. Nevertheless,  to  preserve  peace  in  the  far  East,  Russia  so  far  as  her 
incontestable  rights  and  interests  permitted,  gave  the  necessary  atten- 
tion to  the  demands  of  the  Tokio  cabinet  and  declared  herself  ready 
to  recognize  Japan's  privileged  commercial  and  economic  position  in 
the  Korean  Peninsula,  with  the  concession  of  the  right  to  protect  it  by 
military  force  in  the  event  of  disturbances  in  that  country.  At  the 
same  time,  while  rigorously  observing  the  fundamental  principle  of  her 
policy  regarding  Korea,  wdiose  independence  and  integrity  were  guar- 
anteed by  previous  understandings  with  Japan  and  by  treaties  with 
other  powers,  Russia  insisted  on  three  points : 

Insisted  on  Three  Points. 

"i.  On  a  mutual  and  unconditional  guarantee  of  this  principle. 

"2.  On  an  undertaking  to  use  no  part  of  Korea  for  strategic  pur- 
poses, as  the  authorization  of  such  action  on  the  part  of  any  foreigfn 
power  was  directly  opposed  to  the  principle  of  the  independence  of 
Korea. 

"3.  On  the  preservation  of  the  full  freedom  of  navigation  of  the 
straits  of  Korea. 

"The  project  elaborated  in  this  sense  did  not  satisfy  the  Japanese 
government,  which  in  its  last  proposals  not  only  declined  to  accept  the 


276  THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY. 

conditions  which  appeared  as  the  guarantee  of  the  independence  of 
Korea,  but  also  began  at  the  same  time  to  insist  on  provisions  to  be 
incorporated  in  a  project  regarding  the  question  of  Manchuria. 

"Such  demands  on  the  part  of  Japan,  naturally,  were  inadmissible, 
the  question  of  Russia's  position  in  Manchuria  concerning  in  the  first 
place  China,  but  also  all  the  powers  having  commercial  interests  in 
China.  The  imperial  government,  therefore,  saw  absolutely  no  reason 
to  include  in  a  special  treaty  with  Japan  regarding  Korean  affairs  any 
provisions  concerning  territory  occupied  by  Russian  troops.  The  im- 
perial government,  however,  did  not  refuse,  so  long  as  the  occupation 
of  Manchuria  lasts,  to  recognize  both  the  sovereignty  of  the  Emperor 
of  China  in  Manchuria  and  also  the  rights  acquired  there  by  the  other 
powers  through  treaties  with  China.  A  declaration  to  this  effect  had 
already  been  made  to  the  foreign  cabinets. 

"In  view  of  this  the  imperial  government,  after  charging  its  repre- 
sentative at  Tokio  to  present  its  reply  to  the  last  proposal  of  Japan,  was 
justffied  in  expecting  the  Tokio  cabinet  to  take  into  account  the  con- 
siderations set  forth  above>  and  that  it  would  appreciate  the  wish  mani- 
fested by  Russia  to  come  to  a  peaceful  understanding  with  Japan.  In- 
stead of  this  the  Japanese  government,  not  even  awaiting  this  reply, 
decided  to  break  off  negotiations  and  to  suspend  diplomatic  relations. 
The  imperial  government,  while  laying  on  Japan  the  full  responsibility 
for  any  consequences  of  such  a  course  of  action,  will  await  the  develop- 
ment of  events,  and  the  moment  it  becomes  necessary  will  ^ake  the  most 
decisive  measures  for  the  protection  of  its  rights  and  interests  in  the 
far  East." 

Nicholas*  Supreme  Manifesto. 

The  Official  Messenger,  the  Russian  government  organ  published 
at  St.  Petersburg,  printed  on  February  loth  the  following  "supreme 
manifest" : 

"By  the  grace  of  God  we,  Nicholas  II.,  emperor  and  autocrat  of  all 
the  Russias,  etc.,  make  known  to  all  our  loyal  subjects: 

"In  our  solicitude  for  the  maintenance  of  peace,  which  is  dear  to 


THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY.  277 

our  heart,  we  made  every  exertion  to  consolidate  tranquility  in  the 
far  East.  In  these  peaceful  aims  we  signified  assent  to  the  proposals 
of  the  Japanese  government  to  revise  agreements  regarding  Korean 
affairs  existing  between  the  two  governments.  However,  the  negotia- 
tions begun  upon  this  subject  were  not  brought  to  a  conclusion,  and 
Japan,  without  awaiting  the  receipt  of  the  last  responsive  proposals 
of  our  government,  declared  the  negotiations  broken  ofif  and  diplomatic 
relations  with  Russia  dissolved. 

"Without  advising  us  of  the  fact  that  the  breach  of  such  relations 
would,  in  itself,  mean  an  opening  of  warlike  operations,  the  Japanese 
government  gave  orders  to  its  torpedo  boats  to  suddenly  attack  our 
squadron  standing  in  the  outer  harbor  of  the  fortress  of  Port  Arthur. 
Upon  receiving  reports  from  the  viceroy  in  the  far  East  about  this, 
we  immediately  commanded  him  to  answer  the  Japanese  challenge  with 
armed  force. 

"Making  known,  this  our  decision,  we,  with  unshaken  faith  in  the 
help  of  the  Almighty,  and  with  a  firm  expectation  of  and  reliance 
upon  the  unanimous  willingness  of  all  our  loyal  subjects  to  stand  with 
us  in  defense  of  the  fatherland,  ask  God's  blessing  upon  our  stalwart 
land  and  naval  forces. 

"Given  at  St,  Petersburg,  January  27,  1904,  A.  D.  (new  calendar, 
February  9,  1904),  and  in  the  tenth  year  of  our  reign.  Written  in  full 
hy  the  hand  of  "His  imperial  majesty, 

"NICHOLAS." 

The  Famous  Hay  Note. 

The  United  States  department  of  state,  by  our  Secretary  of  State, 
John  Hay,  on  February  loth  issued  a  statement  to  the  powers  of  the 
world  defining  the  position  of  this  government  and  at  the  same  time 
inviting  the  great  powers  to  join  us  in  the  stand  we  had  taken.  This 
statement  will  go  down  in  history  as  the  "Hay  note."  It  was  issued 
after  our  Secretary  of  State  had  obtained  a  number  of  preliminary 
exchanges  of  views  between  this  government  and  the  other  governments 
interested  in   Chinese  affairs  and  in  keeping  the   commerce   of  that 


278  THE  END  OF  DIPLOMACY. 

country  -open.  The  note  which  was  sent  to  Ambassador  McCormick, 
our  diplomatic  representative  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  Minister  Griscom, 
our  representative  at  Tokio,  as  well  as  to  the  other  leading  European 
powers,  and  to  Peking,  China,  follows: 

"You  will  express  to  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs  the  earnest 
desire  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  that  in  the  course  of 
the  military  operations  which  have  begun  between  Russia  and  Japan 
the  neutrality  of  China  and  in  all  practicable  ways  her  administrative 
entity  shall  be  respected  by  both  parties,  and  that  the  area  of  nostilities 
shall  be  localized  and  limited  as  much  as  possible,  so  that  undue  ex- 
citement and  disturbance  of  the  Chinese  people  may  be  prevented  and 
the  least  possible  loss  to  the  commerce  and  peaceful  intercourse  of  the 
world  may  be  occasioned. 

"(Signed)  JOHN  HAY." 

At  the  same  time  this  government  informed  all  the  powers  signa- 
tory of  the  protocol  at  Peking  of  its  action,  and  requested  similar  action 
on  their  part. 

A  Diplomatic  Triumpli. 

In  the  above  short  note  Secretary  Hay  added  another  to  his  long 
list  of  diplomatic  triumphs,  and  the  United  States  was  once  more  en- 
abled by  his  diplomacy  to  head  the  nations  in  a  concurrent  effort  to  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  China.  Mr.  Hay's  note  to  Russia  and  Japan, 
urging  them  to  confine  hostilities  within  as  small  an  area  as  possible 
and  to  respect  the  neutrality  and  administrative  entity  of  China,  was 
accepted  by  Russia  as  well  as  by  Japan,  and  all  the  nations  have  joined 
the  Washington  government  in  inviting  the  combatants  to  agree  to  the 
proposition. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES 

Japanese  Armies — Uniform  and  Accoutrements  of  the  Russian  Troops — Tran^ortation 
Methods — What  the  Japanese  Soldier  Wears — His  Knapsack — His  Pay — Discipline  of 
the  Japanese  Army — The  Drill — Russians  and  Japanese  Equal  in  Courage  and  Dis- 
cipline— Number  of  Troops  in  Field. 

THE  Style  of  uniform  and  the  manner  of  living  on  the  part  of  Rus- 
sian and  Japanese  soldiers  pitted  against  each  other  in  the  desper- 
ate war  in  the  far  East,  is  of  particular  interest.  One  who  has  observed 
the  armies  of  the  Czar  and  the  Mikado  in  the  allied  campaign  in  China 
during  1900  cannot  well  forget  the  dress  that  was  peculiar  to  each  of 
these  armies,  as  well  as  the  way  they  lived. 

Uniform  of  Russian  Troops. 

The  uniform  generally  worn  by  the  enlisted  men  in  the  Russian 
army  is  apparently  the  same  for  all  arms  except  the  distinctive  marks. 
It  consists  of  a  soft,  flat  white  cap  with  sloping  visor,  a  white  blouse  of 
cotton  cloth,  very  loose  and  belted  at  the  waist  with  a  leather  strap. 
The  trousers  are  plain  black.  The  foot  gear  consists  of  heavy  top 
boots,  reaching  to  the  calf  of  the  leg.  The  winter  coat  is  of  black  cloth, 
similar  otherwise  to  the  summer  blouse. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  infantry  soldier  is  that  he  carries  no 
bayonet  scabbard.  His  bayonet  is  always  fixed  and  his  rifle  apparently 
never  out  of  reach  of  his  hand.  The  ammunition  is  carried  in  pouches 
on  the  waist  belt.  The  rations  are  of  the  simplest  kind,  consisting  of 
hard,  brown  bread,  salt,  pepper  and  tea.  They  are  industrious  foragers, 
as  was  amply  proven  in  the  North  China  campaign,  where  they  supplied 
meat  and  other  items  by  this  means  from  the  abundant  resources  of 
the  country. 

279 


28o  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

Russian  Troops  Have  No  Tents. 

The  troops  have  no  tentage.  In  their  camps  the  men  Hve  in  houses 
or  huts  made  of  native  mats  or  of  other  similar  material.  When  on  the 
march  or  guard  duty  the  discipline  of  the  Russian  infantry  seems  to  be  up 
to  the  excellent  standard  which  it  has  the  reputation  of  maintaining. 
The  handling  of  their  artillery,  however,  seems  to  be  awkward  to  those 
who  have  witnessed  the  American  artillery  in  operation. 

The  Russian  cavalry  consists  entirely  of  Cossacks.  They  are  mounted 
on  rough,  shaggy  little  ponies,  of  about  the  size  of  the  diminutive  In- 
dian ponies  of  the  West.  They  carry  heavy,  slightly  curved  saber  and 
rifle  slung  over  the  shoulder.  The  Russian  transportation,  other  than 
the  native  Manchurian  carts,  consists  of  small,  very  low  four-wheeled 
wagons,  drawn  by  two  ponies,  and  seem  to  have  no  features  that  any  na- 
tion would  consider  worthy  of  making  a  pattern  of. 

The  Traveling  Field  Kitchen. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  Russian  equipment,  however,  is  the  trav- 
eling field  kitchen,  consisting  of  a  boiler,  mounted  on  a  special  wagon, 
so  arranged  that  it  can  be  in  operation  while  in  motion.  The  arrange- 
ment apparently  is  a  very  convenient  one,  and  presents  some  desirable 
features.  The  meals  of  the  men  is  always  in  process  of  cooking  during 
the  march,  in  order  to  be  ready  when  the  halt  is  made.  When  it  is 
necessary  to  travel  by  rail,  this  wagon  kitchen  is  put  into  a  flat  car  and 
the  process  of  cooking  goes  on  while  the  train  is  in  motion.  These 
kitchens  on  wheels  are  also  operated  on  river  steamers  and  steamships 
when  in  transport.  The  apparatus  is  undoubtedly  one  that  gives  a  very 
prompt  and  satisfactory  service  of  the  men's  food.  The  military  ex- 
perts of  the  United  States  have  recently  become  very  much  interested 
in  this  idea  which  originated  in  the  Russian  army. 

Uniform  of  the  Japanese  Troops. 

The  summer  uniform  of  the  Japanese  soldier  is  of  the  same  cut  as 
that  for  winter  service,  but  is  of  white  cotton  material.     It  is  cool  and 


RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES.  281 

easily  laundered,  but  has  the  serious  defect  of  bemg  extremely  con- 
spicuous. The  winter  uniform,  with  the  exception  of  the  cavalry  trou- 
sers, which  are  red,  is  of  a  dark  blue  woolen  material,  warm  and  very 
neat  in  appearance.  The  cap  is  slightly  bell  shaped,  with  flat  crown 
and  small  drooping  visor.  It  is  ornamented  by  a  narrow  yellow  band 
at  the  junction  of  the  crown  and  sides,  and  another  band  or  braid  at 
the  top  of  the  sides,  about  one  and  one-half  inches  wide,  yellow  in  all 
cases,  except  the  commisariat,  in  which  case  it  is  a  blue  or  medium  in- 
tensity. All  caps  have  a  star  in  the  center  of  the  front  just  above  the 
vistor. 

Picturesque  But  Conspicuous. 

The  blouse  is  fairly  close  fitting,  extends  about  three  inches  below 
the  belt,  and  is  fastened  with  five  buttons.  It  has  a  standard  collar 
faced  with  the  color  of  the  arm,  red  for  infantry,  green  for  cavalry, 
yellow  for  artillery,  blue  for  commissariat,  and  dark  red  for  engineers. 
A  strap  about  two  inches  wide  extends  from  the  neck  to  the  point  of  the 
shoulder  and  has  on  it  the  number  of  the  regiment.  In  the  cavalry  this 
strap  is  replaced  by  a  braided  shoulder  knot,  and  the  blouse  has  the 
back  seam  ornamented  with  yellow  stripes  and  the  front  w^ith  five  hori- 
zontal stripes  of  yellow,  the  ends  terminating  in  falling  loops.  This 
ornament,  together  with  the  red  trousers,  makes  a  very  picturesque  and 
striking  uniform  with  the  attendant  disadvantage  of  being  very  con- 
spicuous. In  the  cavalry  the  trousers  below  the  knee  are  cut  to  fit 
closely  and  facilitate  the  wearing  of  the  boot.  In  the  infantry  they  fit 
loosely,  but  are  usually  confined  by  khaki-colored  leggings. 

Japanese  Cavalry. 

The  cavalry  is  furnished  with  boots  and  the  infantry  with  a  rather 
coarsely  made  and  low  cut  leather  shoe.  The  foot  gear  seems  much  in- 
ferior to  that  «sed  in  tht  United  States  army.  The  overcoat  is  of  dark 
blue,  fits  loosely,  extends  nearly  to  the  ankle,  is  unlined,  and  furnished 
with  a  hood.  When  not  worn  it  is  carried  compactly  rolled  and  slung 
over  one  shoulder,  the  ends  fastened  together  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  body.     During  the  warm  weather  it  seems  to  be  carried  and  used 


:^82  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

in  lieu  of  a  blanket.  The  fitting  of  the  uniform  is  simplified  by  the 
•great  uniformity  in  the  size  and  build  of  the  Japanese  soldier.  It  should 
require  but  a  few  sizes  to  furnish  a  good  fit  for  all  the  men. 

What  the  Japanese  Soldier  Carries. 

The  Japanese  have  a  pack  of  leather,  tanned  with  the  hair  on.  This 
pack  is  not  in  favor  and  is  usually  replaced  by  an  elongated  cloth  bag 

-^about  nine  inches  in  diameter.  In  this  bag  is  carried  a  reserve  supply 
of  sixty  rounds  of  ammunition,  some  spare  parts  for  the  rifle,  including 
a  first  aide's  package,  a  small  package  of  thread,  needles,  and  buttons, 

.and  an  emergency  ration  for  one  day. 

The  pail  in  which  is  carried  the  day's  ordinary  ration  is  also  carried 
in  this  bag,  except  when  the  pack  is  worn.  In  the  latter  case  the  pail 
is  carried  on  top  of  the  pack.  The  ends  of  the  bag  are  tied  together  and 
the  bag  is  slung  over  the  shoulder  opposite  to  the  blanket  or  overcoat. 

"The  soldier  has  also  a  small  bag  similar  to  our  haversack  and  carried  in 
the  same  manner,  but  much  smaller,  in  which  he  carries  certain  mis- 
cellaneous articles  of  his  own  choice. 

In  the  rear  pouches  thrown  across  the  horses  in  the  Japanese  cavalry, 
is  a  set  of  shoes  for  the  horse;  also  a  leather  shield,  that  can  be  fastened 
to  the  hoof  by  thong  for  use  in  emergency.  In  the  front  pouches  there 
is  always  kept  the  one  day  emergency  ration  of  rice  for  both  trooper 
and  horse.  The  horses  are  extremely  small  as  compared  with  the 
American  horse,  being  no  more  than  ponies.  The  weight  they  carry, 
live  and  dead,  is  much  less  than  with  our  cavalry. 

What  the  Japanese  Government  Pays  Its  Men. 

The  Japanese  soldiers  are  divided  into  three  classes,  first,  second 
and  third;  the  class  being  indicated  by  three,  two  and  one  stripe  of 
yellow  on  the  lower  part  of  the  sleeve.  In  time  of  war  they  receive 
Iheir  pay  every  ten  days.  For  that  period  the  third  class  receive  forty- 
five  sen,  or  twenty-two  and  a  half  cents,  equal  to  two  and  a  quarter 
•  cents  per  day.  The  second  c;ass  receive  sixty  sen,  or  thirty  cents  (3 
-cents  a  day)   every  ten  days.     The  first  class  receive   eighty   sen   (40 


RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES.  283 

merits)  or  4  cents  a  day.  Corporals  one  yen  80  sen,  or  ninety  cents, 
«qual  to  9  cents  a  day.  Sergeants  two  yen  80  sen,  or  $1.40,  equal  to  14 
-cents  a  day.  The  government  compels  their  soldiers  to  send  their  sala- 
ries to  their  dependent  families,  in  fact,  the  government  mails  it  to  the 
families  direct. 

The  monthly  salaries  of  officers  in  time  of  peace  are  as  follow^s :  Sub- 
lieutenant, thirty-five  yen ;  lieutenant,  forty-five  yen ;  captain,  sixty-five 
yen;  major,  one  hundred  and  ten  yen;  lieutenant-colonel,  one  hundred 
and  sixty  yen;  colonel,  tv^o  hundred  and  ten  yen;  major-general,  three 
hundred  and  ten  yen;  lieutenant-general,  four  hundred  and  twenty  yen; 
general,  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  yen. 

The  officers'  salaries  are  increased  by  two-fifths  in  time  of  war.  The 
Japanese  private  soldier,  when  he  first  enlists,  receives  a  salary  of  about 
sixty-seven  cents  a  month.  The  United  States  soldier,  of  the  same  class, 
receives  just  about  twenty  times  as  much  pay  per  month.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  Japanese  enlisted  men  are  advanced,  in  pay,  about  one- 
third  after  they  have  served  a  year  or  two  and  have  become  soldiers  of 
the  second  class.  The  advance  from  second  to  first  class  amounts  to  an 
increase  of  twenty-five  per  cent  in  wages.  The  highest  price  paid  the 
private  soldier  in  Japan,  and  that  after  they  have  served  for  several 
years,  is  about  $1.20  per  month.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  pay  of  the 
officers  in  the  Japanese  army  is  very  much  less  than  in  the  United 
.States  army. 

Rations  of  the  Mikado's  Troops. 

The  rations  of  the  Japanese  soldiers  consists  of  about  36  ounces  of 
rice,  4  ounces  of  meat,  and  4  ounces  of  vegetables.  One  day's  ordinary 
ration  is  carried  in  the  soldier's  aluminum  bucket  which  serves  as  his 
cooking  utensil,  and  the  hollow  lid  of  which  carries  the  meat  portion. 
One  day's  emergency  rations  consisting  of  three  sacks  of  very  fine 
quality  rice  and  a  can  of  meat,  containing  about  four  ounces,  is  always 
carried  and  can  be  used  only  by  order  of  the  commanding  officer.  It  is 
the  intention  always  to  keep  the  regimental  transportation  sufficiently 
far  to  the  front  to  make  it  unnecessary  for  the  soldiers  .to  carry  more 
sthan  one  day's  ordinary  rations. 


284  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

Japanese  Transportation  Methods. 

The  Japanese  transportation  consists  of  carts  and  pack  animals.  The 
cart  is  very  light  and  is  drawn  by  one  pony  attended  by  one  man  of  the 
transport  service.  As  compared  to  our  army  or  escort  wagons,  there 
is  a  great  loss  of  man  and  draught  animal  labor,  for  the  combatant  force 
of  18,000  the  Japanese,  in  the  war  in  China  during  1900,  had  4,000  non- 
combatants  and  six  thousand  horses.  The  cart  does  have  the  advantage 
of  not  requiring  such  heavy  or  substantial  bridges  and  can  go  through 
narrower  trails. 

The  pack  saddle  consists  of  two  padded  sides  joined  by  iron  arches. 
The  packages  are  tied  to  or  hung  upon  the  saddle.  It  is  well  adapted 
for  supplying  ammunition  to  the  firing  line.  One  mule  takes  two  boxes 
and  can  be  led  by  the  routes  giving  the  most  protection. 

Excellent  Discipline. 

The  discipline  of  the  Japanese  army  is  most  excellent.  Its  military 
code  has  been  borrowed  from  those  of  Europe,  and  retains  the  essential 
features.  There  are  tribunals  for  the  trial  of  serious  offenses  and  the 
punishment  is  usually  imprisonment.  The  division  commander  has 
authority  to  approve  the  death  sentence  and  to  have  the  same  executed. 
Company,  battalion  and  regimental  commanders  can  order  corrective 
confinement.  The  length  of  time  that  can  be  ordered  increases  with 
the  rank  of  the  commander,  the  greatest  being  thirty  days. 

Only  a  few  years  ago,  in  what  Japanese  refer  to  as  "feudal  times," 
corrective  chastisement  (such  as  cuffing  the  offender  over  the  head  or 
kicking  him  on  the  shins)  was  used  for  inattention  at  drill  and  like 
offenses.     Now  such  proceeding  is  forbidden  by  their  military  code. 

A  Simple  Drill. 

The  drill  of  the  Japanese   infantry   is   characterized  by   simplicity, 

directness  and  precision.     In  the  manual  of  arms  there  are  but  three 

^positions  of  the  piece — order,  right  shoulder  and  present.    The  company 

is  divided  into  three  platoons,  and  each  platoon  into  four  groups;  the 


RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES.  285 

habitual  formation  seems  to  be  in  line  or  column  of  platoons  at  about 
five  yards  distance.  The  rear  rank  stands  and  marches  at  about  one 
yard  distance  from,  the  front  rank.  The  column  of  route  is  in  fours  if 
the  road  allows;  if  the  road  is  too  narrow  for  column  of  fours,  then  in 
column  of  twos.  Fours  are  formed  by  all  facing  to  the  right  (or  left) 
and  each  alternate  file  stepping  to  the  right  oblique,  so  as  to  come 
abreast  of  the  file  immediately  in  front. 

Battle  Formation. 

In  the  battle  formation,  the  movements  are  at  a  run,  the  platoon 
deploys  to  the  front  by  an  oblique  fan-shaped  movement,  the  other 
platoons  kneeling.  The  front  seems  to  be  about  what  the  front  of  a 
company  would  be  in  battalion. 

The  advance  is  made  by  rushes  of  about  fifty  yards,  file  firing  being 
at  each  halt.  The  two  platoons  in  support  follow,  taking  advantage  of 
the  folds  of  ground  to  obtain  shelter  during  the  halts.  The  second 
platoon  takes  part  in  the  rapid  fire  preceding  the  assault,  joining  under 
cover  of  the  fire  of  the  first  platoon.  The  third  platoon  also  comes  up 
to  immediately  in  rear  of  the  firing  line  and  takes  part  in  the  assault. 
In  the  rushes  and  the  assaults  the  officers  and  the  non-commissioned 
officers  are  in  front,  dropping  back  into  the  line  on  halting. 

The  drill  is  conspicuous  by  its  precision  and  the  attention  paid  by 
each  soldier.  Each  one  is  wide  awake  to  see  what  he  ought  to  do  and 
does  it  without  much  prompting  from  the  file  closers.  It  is  very  seldom 
that  one  of  the  latter  is  heard  to  speak  to  any  of  the  men. 

The  Japanese  soldier  enters  the  service  at  twenty-one.  serves  three 
years  and  then  goes  into  the  first  reserve  for  five  years.  After  that  he 
foes  into  the  second  reserve  for  four  years. 

Obedient  and  Patriotic. 

He  receives  almost  no  pay,  as  the  scale  of  wages  indicated  above 
show,  but  is  actuated  by  a  most  intense  patriotism  and  pride  in  his  posi- 
tion as  a  soldier.  He  is  very  obedient,  and  yet  has  an  individualism  that 
does  not  always  go  with  such  strict  discipline.    He  has  a  great  curiosity 


286  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

to  see  what  is  going  on,  both  on  and  off  duty  as  a  sentinel  he  stands  at 
ease,  but  with  an  air  of  showing  that  he  is  a  sentinel  and  that  he  is 
constantly  on  the  alert. 

The  compulsory  service  and  strict  physical  requirements  with  the 
system  of  reserve,  allows  Japan  to  put  a  large  body  of  trained  men  in 
the  field  at  short  notice.  If  Japan  can  keep  the  armament  and  equip- 
ment  on  a  par  with  her  soldiers  she  is  a  most  valuable  ally  and  a  most 
formidable  enemy. 

Russian  and  Japanese  Soldiers  Compared. 

In  the  light  of  history,  both  the  Russian  and  Japanese  soldiers  are 
seen  to  be  first-class  fighting  men.  There  is  little  to  choose  between: 
them,  except  that  the  Russian  is  far  less  intelligent  and  depends  more- 
upon  leadership  than  the  Japanese.  Their  courage  an-d  discipline  may 
be  ranked  about  equal.  The  Japanese  is  a  fiery,  impetuous  fighter,, 
always  eager  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope  or  storm  a  battery;  the  Russian  is 
heavy,  dogged  and  determined  to  the  point  of  death. 

Stubborn  but  Easily  Demoralized. 

The  British  found  in  the  Crimea  that  when  once  the  Russian  infantry^ 
occupied  a  position  and  got  ready  to  fight  it  was  practically  impossible 
to  drive  them  from  that  position ;  it  was  necessary  to  kill  them  all  before 
it  could  be  taken.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  surprise  frequently  made 
them  lose  their  wits  and  retreat  in  confusion,  and. after  the  loss  of  their 
officers  they  were  of  little  use  as  an  effective  fighting  force.  They 
simply  became  a  mob,  knowing  not  where  to  turn  or  what  to  do. 

The  estimate  of  the  Russians  was  given  to  the  writer  by  a  retired 
British  officer  who  fought  them  in  most  of  the  battles  of  the  Crimean 
war  and  was  wounded  in  the  attack  on  the  Redan. 

A  Strong  Spirit  of  Brotherhood. 

The  discipline  of  the  Japanese  army  is  not  so  strict  as  that  of  the 
Russian,  but  in  the  judgment  of  foreign  experts  it  is  quite  as  effective 
because  the  men  are  so  keen  on  doing  their  duty.  They  obey  readily 
because  they  like  to  be  good  soldiers,  not  because  they  fear  their  officers,. 


RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES.  287- 

There  is  a  strong  spirit  of  brotherhood  among  officers  and  men  in  the 
Japanese  army,  which  is  largely  due  to  their  experiences  in  the  China- 
Japanese  war  and  the  Peking  relief  expedition.  They  have  tested  each 
other  and  been  satisfied.  The  Russian  soldier's  discipline  is  stolid — _ 
perfect  from  the  military  point  of  view,  but  devoid  of  all  enthusiasm. 
He  obeys  the  officer  because  he  has  never  dreamed  of  doing  anything 
but  obey,  even  before  he  became  a  soldier. 

The  Japanese  soldiers  are  mainly  drawn  from  the  Cho-su  clan,  to 
which  the  emperor,  Marquis  Ito,  and  nearly  all  Japan's  leading  generals 
belong.  The  officers  of  the  navy,  on  the  contrary,  belong,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  to  the  Satsuma  clan.  All  the  officers  in  the  Japanese  services 
come  from  Samurai  stock,  and  their  ancestors  for  over  two  thousand 
years  were  as  fine  fighting  men  as  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Japanese  Cavalry  Weak. 

The  weakest  branch  of  the  Japanese  army  is  undoubtedly  the  caval- 
ry. The  Japs  are  not  good  horsemen,  and  the  breed  of  horses  in  Japan 
is  distinctly  inferior.  Heroic  efforts  have  been  made  by  the  Tokio  war 
office  in  recent  years  to  improve  this  branch  of  the  service,  but  without 
much  success.  Among  other  things,  a  special  college,  for  the  education 
of  cavalry  officers  only,  was  established. 

"The  Japanese  cavalrymen,"  an  English  officer  once  remarked  to 
the  writer,  "can  master  with  ease  every  detail  of  his  work — except  how 
to  ride  decently.    He  never  learns  that." 

The  Cossacks. 

The  Cossacks,  on  the  contrary,  have  the  reputation  among  military^ 
experts  of  being  the  finest  irregular  cavalry  in  the  world,  and  those 
whom  one  sees  in  Russia  and  central  Asia  are  always  splendidly" 
mounted.  Of  course,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  would  be*equally 
well  mounted  in  Manchuria  and  Korea.  Native  horses  will  probably  be 
depended  on  to  a  large  extent,  for  the  transporting  capacity  of  the 
Siberian  railway  will  be  sufficiently  taxed  in  carrying  men  without 
bringing  their  horses. 


28S  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

The  Artillery  of  the  Two  Nations. 

The  artillery  of  the  Japanese  is  a  strong  arm  of  the  force  in  number 
of  guns,  excellence  of  material  and  training  of  the  gunners.  The  Japan- 
ese, as  a  rule,  are  not  good  marksmen,  because  the  eyesight  of  the  entire 
nation  is  more  or  less  defective.  But  men  with  first-class  vision  have 
been  picked  out  for  the  artillery  and  the  military  attaches  of  the  foreign 
legations  at  Tokio  have  praised  their  shooting  over  and  over  again  in 
official  reports  to  the  government. 

The  only  defect  of  the  artillery — and  it  is  a  serious  one — is  the  in- 
feriority of  the  horses.  The  Russian  artillery  is  better  horsed  and  bears 
a  reputation  of  high  efficiency.  In  the  Russo-Turkish  war,  it  may  be 
remembered,  the  Russian  guns  were  splendidly  handled,  as  a  rule. 

The  Japanese  infantry  was  declared  by  Gen.  Grant,  Lord  Wolseley, 
Gen.  Chaffee  and  many  other  competent  observers  to  be  as  good  as  any 
in  the  world.  "The  only  thing  J  would  object  to  in  it,  if  I  were  an 
officer,"  declared  a  former  military  attache  of  the  United  States  legation 
at  Tokio,  "is  the  absolute  likeness  of  the  men  to  one  another.  They  are 
as  like  as  a  dish  of  peas.  I  don't  see  how  their  officers  can  tell  them 
apart,  and  that  is  awkward,  you  know,  when  you  are  commanding  a 
company." 

Officers  of  Both  Services  Educated. 

Great  attention  is  paid  to  the  education  of  officers  in  both  services, 
but  the  Japanese  probably  lead  in  this  respect.  The  military  college 
and  academy  at  Tokio  turn  out  officers  of  great  intelligence  and  military 
knowledge.  Gen.  Grant  said  they  were  among  the  best  of  their  kind 
in  the  world,  and  quite  equal  to  good  West  Pointers.  Many  of  them 
are  wealthy  men  belonging  to  the  leading  noble  families  of  Japan,  but 
they  live  in  a  simple,  Spartan  style.  True  to  their  Samurai  traditions, 
they  regard  luxury  as  effeminate  and  despise  foreign  officers  who  waste 
their  time  over  social  "duties"  instead  of  learning  their  profession.  The 
Japanese  officer  is  quite  satisfied  to  live  on  dried  or  salted  fish  and  rice, 
like  his  men.  Princes  of  the  imperial  family  did  it  when  they  cam- 
paigned in  Manchuria  duriiv-;  '.:ie  war  with  China. 


RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES.  289 

Many  of  the  Russian  officers  are  equally  hardy,  if  not  so  abstemious, 
for  they  have  received  a  splendid  training  in  Central  Asian  campaigos, 
and  in  outpost,  pioneer,  survey  and  exploring  work  in  Siberia,  Tibet» 
the  Pamirs  and  Manchuria.  It  is  these  men,  in  all  probability,  who  will 
have  charge  of  the  fighting  forces  of  the  Russians  in  Manchuria,  for 
Russia's  consistent  policy  is  to  employ  in  Asiatic  wars,  officers  with 
Asiatic  experience. 

The  officers  whose  military  career  has  been  confined  to  Moscow,  St. 
Petersburg  and  other  cities  of  European  Russia  are  men  of  an  entirely 
different  type.  Most  of  them  are  social  butterflies,  and  they  are  held  in 
scorn  by  their  comrades  in  Central  Asia  and  Manchuria — the  regions 
to  which  every  Russian  officer  who  is  worth  his  salt  manages  to  get 
sent. 

Number  of  Japanese  Troops  in  the  Field. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it  was  estimated  that  the  strength  of  the 
regular  army  of  Japan,  not  including  the  reserves,  when  placed  on  a 
war  footing  was  about  200,000  men;  the  reserves  added  35,000  more, 
and  the  territorial  army  supplied  200,000  more,  making  "a  total  of  435,- 
000  men. 

It  was  estimated  that  Russia  could  not  put  into  Manchuria,  properly 
provisioned  and  equipped  for  service,  more  than  three  or  four  hundred 
thousand  men.  Not  that  Russia  had  not  sufficient  men  to  expand  her 
force  almost  without  limit,  but  the  strain  of  supplying  a  larger  force 
than  about  four  hundred  thousand  made  it  almost  impracticable  to 
depend  upon  operations  of  a  greater  magnitude. 

The  best  authorities  agreed  that  the  light  rails  of  the  Siberian  rail- 
road could  never  stand  the  wear  and  tear  of  transporting  400,000  troops 
and  the  supplies  and  equipment  for  such  a  force  that  might  be  required 
in  operations  of  six  months  or  a  year.  Many  travelers  say  that  only 
thirty-pound  rails  were  used  on  the  older  portion  of  the  road.  A  thirty- 
pound  rail  is  as  light  as  the  ordinary  street  car  rail. 

Where  the  Japanese  had  the  advantage  of  the  Russians  was  in  field 
artillery,  but  this  was  more  than  offset  by  the  Russian  cavalry.     T'^2 


290  RUSSIAN  AND  JAPANESE  ARMIES. 

200,000  regular  Japanese   had   19  six-battery  regiments  and  field  and 
mountain  artillery  organized  into  114  batteries  mounting  684  guns. 

Russian  Soldiers  Available  for  Service. 

A  careful  estimate  of  the  organization  of  the  First  and  Second 
Siberian  Corps  showed  about  147,000  Russians  when  the  corps  were 
organized  on  a  war  footing.  There  should  be  added  to  this  number 
the  cavalry  force,  estimated  in  the  official  publication  of  the  French 
General  Stafif  at  about  22,930  Cossacks  with  19,300  horses. 

This  organization,  according  to  the  French  General  Staff,  was  in  the 
districts  of  Siberia,  Semirechensk,  Transbaikalia,  the  Amur  and  Ussuri 
and  was  about  14.7  per  cent  of  the  population  available  for  Cossack 
service. 

The  Russian  cavalry  was  a  factor  of  more  than  usual  importance, 
and  army  officers  said  it  would  accomplish  great  things  before  the  war 
was  over. 

Two  new  rifle  brigades  were  also  created,  and  the  British  Army  and 
Navy  Gazette  figured  a  total  of  about  300,000  Russians  available  for 
service  in  Manchuria.  But  with  the  two  Siberian  corps  of  about  147,- 
000  men,  there  were  only  286  guns,  which  gave  the  Japanese  a  decided, 
artillery  advantage. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
AMERICAN   NONCOMBATANTS 

American  Nurses  Offer  their  Services  to  Japan — The  First  Expedition — What  the  Offer 
Meant  to  Japan — The  Japanese  Red  Cress  Society — United  States  Oflacers  Study  the 
War — Uniforms  Required — Absence  of  S\^"ords — Military  Etiquette. 

THE  women  of  the  United  States  were  the  first  to  furnish  trained 
nurses  for  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan.  Even  before  war 
was  declared  several  American  women  offered  their  services  to  Japan- 
as  army  nurses.  On  March  7th,  Dr.  Anita  Newcomb  McGee,  of  Wash- 
ington, started  across  the  Pacific  for  Japan  with  a  party  of  nine  other 
women. 

Nurses  Study  the  Language. 

Upon  deciding  to  make  the  venture  in  the  interest  of  humanity  these 
brave  women  began  the  study  of  the  Japanese  language.  They  engaged 
a  teacher  in  the  tongue  of  that  country  and  retained  his  services  through- 
out the  voyage.  The  names  of  the  first  expedition  of  American  trained 
nurses  were  as  follows :  Dr.  Anita  Newcomb  McGee.  Miss  Barbara 
Wiedman,  who  was  operating  nurse  in  the  ship  Relief  in  the  Philippines ; 
Miss  Mary  E.  Gladwin,  of  Boston,  a  woman  of  valuable  experience  who 
was  chief  nurse  at  the  Sternberg  Hospital  at  Chicamauga  during  the 
Spanish  war;  Miss  Annie  Robbins,  who  was  the  chief  nurse  of  the  7th 
Army  Corps  and  served  for  a  long  time  in  the  Philippines ;  Miss  Sarah 
Welpton,  of  St.  Louis,  who  was  in  the  army  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Spanish  war  until  recently;  Mrs.  K.  W.  Eastman,  of  New  York;  Miss 
Elizabeth  Stack,  of  Brooklyn,  who  was  engaged  in  teaching  the  hospital 
corps  at  Washington  Barracks;  Miss  Emma  Kennedy,  who  was  with, 
the  Seventh  Army  Corps  during  the  Spanish  war.  She  saw  service  in 
Cuba  and  the  Philippines  and  at  the  Army  Tuberculosis  Hospital  at: 
Fort  Bayard,  New  Mexico;  Miss  Sophia  E.  Newell,  of  Jersey  City,  and. 

291 


292  AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS. 

Miss  Alice  Kemmer,  of  Sweetzer,  Indiana,  who  attained  considerable 
fame  for  her  work  in  the  Philippines  and  in  the  allied  campaign  in 
China  of  1900. 

Formal  Offer  to  Japan. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Am.ericans  were  the  only  women 
nurses  in  China  during  the  war.  The  Sisters  of  the  Russian  Church 
were  at  Taku  but  that  was  the  nearest  any  but  the  American  women 
got  to  the  marching  armies.  Dr.  McGee,  at  the  head  of  this  band  of 
women  who  engaged  in  this  practical  work  of  humanity,  was  President 
of  the  Spanish-American  war  nurses.  In  the  autumn  of  1903,  when  war 
between  Russia  and  Japan  seemed  to  be  approaching,  she  took  unofificial 
and  finally  formal  steps  toward  the  participation  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can war  nurses  in  the  work  of  the  war  in  the  Far  East,  by  sending  the 
following  letter  to  his  excellency,  Kogoro  Takahira,  the  Japanese  Min- 
ister to  the  United  States: 

To  His  Excellency, 

The  Minister  from  Japan, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Sir: 

Through  your  Excellency  I  have  the  honor  to  offer  to  your  govern- 
ment, if  war  should  be  declared,  the  services  of  a  party  of  American 
ex-army  nurses  to  assist  in  nursing  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  Japan- 
ese army.  The  party  would  consist  exclusively  of  women  who  have 
graduated  from  our  well  equipped  training  schools  for  nurses,  requiring 
two  or  three  years  residence  and  work  in  a  hospital,  and  who  have  also 
had  large  experience  in  their  profession  since  graduation.  A  part  of 
their  experience  was  gained  by  regular  service  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  during  the  Spanish  war  and  the  Philippines  and  Chinese  cam- 
paigns ;  so  that  they  are  familiar  with  camp  life  and  accustomed  to  army 
discipline. 

\pproximately  two  thousand  were  appointed  to  our  army  during 
the  ten  years  when  the  Nurse  Corps  in  my  charge  (under  immediate 
direction  of  Surgeon-General  Sternberg),  and  six  hundred  of  those  who 


AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS.  293 

served  in  1898  belong  to  the  Association  of  Spanish-American  nurses, 
which  was  organized  over  three  years  ago,  and  of  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  be  President.  The  number  to  constitute  the  proposed  party  will,  of 
course,  depend  upon  your  wishes  and  the  amount  of  contributions  to  be 
received  from  the  American  people.  Each  nurse  would  be  pledged  to 
remain  at  least  six  months,  if  needed  so  long.  I  take  the  liberty  of  sug- 
gesting that  I  could  start  almost  immediately  after  a  declaration  of 
war,  taking  with'  me  a  few  nurses  with  the  highest  degree  of  surgical 
skill,  and  that  additional  nurses  could  be  cabled  for  if  the  need  arose. 

I  presume  you  would  desire  to  furnish  quarters  and  rations  from  the 
time  of  arrival  in  Japan. 

With  the  earnest  hope  that  this  expression  of  friendship  from  the 
people  of  the  United  States  will  meet  with  the  approval  and  sanction 
of  your  government,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration, 
your  obedient  servant. 

(Signed)  Anita  Newcomb  McGee, 

President  Society  Spanish-American  War  Nurses  (1898  to  1901,  Acting 
Ass't  Surgeon  of  the  United  States  Army  in  Charge  of  Army  Nurse 
Corps). 

The  Japanese  Minister's  Reply. 

The  Japanese  Minister  replied: 

*T  am  deeply  impressed  by  your  of¥er  to  my  government  of  the 
services  of  the  ex-army  nurses  now  belonging  to  the  association  under 
your  presidency,  in  case  they  should  be  needed  by  the  Japanese  army. 
I  can  assure  you  that  the  friendship  and  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the 
American  ladies  who  devote  their  efforts  to  the  noble  objects  of  your 
association  of  which  your  letter  is  so  graceful  in  evidence,  will  be  widely 
and  cordially  recognized  in  Japan,  and  to  that  end  I  will  take  pleasure 
in  communicating  it  to  my  government  at  the  earliest  opportunity." 

Dr.  McGee's  letter,  ofifering  the  co-operation  of  the  American  women 
made  an  excellent  impression  in  Japan,  it  is  said.  The  news  of  Dr. 
McGee's  intention  were,  of  course,  cabled  to  Japan  and  printed  in  the 
newspapers  there.     But  war  had  not  at  that  time  been  decided  upon. 


^94  AMERICAN  N.ONCOMBATANTS. 

Of  course,  Japan  could  not  accept  any  such  offer  until  after  the  declara- 
tion, which  occurred  on  Feb.  ii.  The  offer  was  later  accepted  by  Mr. 
Takahira  in  the  follow^ing  letter: 

The  Japanese  Government  Accepts. 

"In  reference  to  your  offer  of  services  of  a  party  of  American  ex- 
army  nurses  to  assist  in  nursing  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  Japanese 
-army,  I  have  now  received  a  telegram  from  the  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  informing  me  that  the  Red  Cross  Society  of  Japan  is  prepared 
to  accept  their  services  with  full  appreciation  of  the  high  motives  which 
animated  you  to  make  this  offer.  In  doing  so,  however,  I  am  asked  to 
say  the  Society  wishes  to  suggest  that  you  would  come  over  to  Japan 
with  a  few  nurses,  as  you  proposed,  leaving  the  others  to  be  cabled  for 
if  the  actual  necessity  should  call  for  such  a  step,  as,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Society,  it  is  still  uncertain  that  such  an  o'ccasion  will  present  itself." 

Not  Equipped  for  War. 

An  unprofessional  person  not  familiar  with  the  conditions  in  Japan 
can  hardly  realize  how  much  this  offer  of  assistance  meant  to  the  army 
of  the  Island  Kingdom.  While  Japan  was  well  enough  equipped  with 
nurses  for  peace  times,  neither  she  nor,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  any  other  country  is  adequately 
prepared  in  time  of  war.  Our  own  experiences  in  the  Spanish-American 
war  gave  us  some  notion  of  what  would  very  soon  be  the  plight  of 
Japan.  Dr.  McGee  estimated  that  there  were  living  in  this  country 
25,000  graduated  nurses,  and  yet  there  were  not  enough  available  to 
supply  the  needs  of  the  American  Navy  in  the  Spanish  war.  About 
1,500  nurses  worked  with  the  army  in  1898  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
McGee,  who  from  that  year  until  1901  was  an  Acting-Assistant-Surgeon 
in  the  United  States  Army  in  charge  of  the  army  nurse  corps.  Fully  a 
thousand  more  nurses  could  have  been  employed  to  a  great  advantage. 
These  nurses  were  available  for  service ;  but  the  officers  and  men  were 
gradually  returning  to  their  homes  on  furlough,  afflicted  with  sickness 
or  wounds,  and  the  nurses  were  emplo3^ed  -to  assist  in  bringing  tliem 


AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS.  295 

back  to  health  and  strength.  So  it  is  that  in  war  times  the  demands 
upon  this  profession  in  the  combating  countries  are  pretty  sure  to  be 
much  greater  than  the  supply. 

The  Red  Cross  Organization. 

The  Mikado  has  an  immense  Red  Cross  organization,  with  a  mem- 
bership of  800,000  and  over  $2,000,000  to  work  with.  This  organization 
is  under  the  direct  patronage  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress,  and  is, 
no  doubt,  a  very  powerful  and  effective  society.  But  it  appears  that  the 
Japanese  Red  Cross  was  not  in  a  position  to  do  all  that  should  be  re- 
quired of  such  a  body  in  an  emergency  like  the  war  with  Russia.  Its 
principal  duty  was  to  collect  money  and  supplies  for  relief  work  and  to 
give  instruction  in  the  first  stage  to  men  who  served  the  army  in  the 
field.  But  army  officers  know  that  women  nurses  are  well  nigh  indis- 
pensable, and  of  these  the  Japanese  Red  Cross  had  not  a  sufficient 
number.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a  hospital  at  Tokio  maintained  by 
the  Society,  and  several  hundred  nurses  have  been  graduated  there, 
among  them  being  young  ladies  of  high  position.  But  this  provision, 
though  sufficient  in  time  of  peace,  is  likely  to  prove  sadly  inadequate  in 
war  times. 

The  Tented  Field  Had  No  Terrors. 

Moreover — and  this  is  doubtless  the  most  important  consideration — 
Japanese  women  nurses  had  never  been  sent  outside  of  their  own  coun- 
try, and  were  utterly  devoid  of  experience  on  the  field  of  battle.  The 
armed  camp,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no  terrors  for  any  of  the  women 
who  went  from  this  country  for  Japan.  These  American  nurses  knew 
what  it  meant  to  live  in  a  tent,  without  the  conveniences  of  a  peaceful 
home,  and  to  work  for  thirty-six  continuous  hours  if  necessary,  and  to 
aid  in  surgical  operations.  This  is  the  kind  of  work  they  did  in  the 
Spanish  war,  and  they  wer-e  able  to  show  their  Japanese  sisters  many 
things  which  those  slant  and  almond-eyed  nurses  did  not  thoroughly 
understand. 

The  Japanese  Red  Cross  Society  is  under  military  control,  so  the 
American  nurses  received  orders  from  Japanese  officers.    The  American 


296  AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS. 

party  first  proceeded  to  Osaka,  the  greatest  industrial  city  of  Japan, 
located  on  that  fairy  land's  famous  inland  sea.  Osaka  was  the  military 
medical  base.  The  Emperor  had  established  headquarters  at  the  ancient 
capital  at  Kioto,  about  two  hours  by  rail  from  Osaka,  and  the  American 
women  were  able  to  be  on  hand  to  report  for  duty  wherever  they  were 
needed. 

United  States  Officers  Study  the  War. 

In  the  Orient  our  government  established  at  the  opening  of  nostili- 
ties  a  vast  war  laboratory,  and  fourteen  Yankee  officers — the  largest 
delegation  ever  dispatched  by  us  on  such  a  mission — were  detailed  to 
study  the  bloody  science  of  killing. 

Eight  of  these — six  military  and  two  naval  experts — studied  the 
conflict  from  the  Russian  s^de,  while  six — five  from  the  army  and  one 
from  the  navy — observed  the  struggle  within  the  Japanese  lines.  On 
the  Russian  side  we  were  represented  by  one  brigadier-general,  one 
colonel  and  five  captains,  of  the  army;  one  lieutenant-commander  and 
one  lieutenant  of  the  navy.  With  the  plucky  Japs  we  had  one  colonel. 
one  major  and  three  captains  of  our  land  forces  and  one  lieutenant- 
commander  of  our  fleet.  All  branches  of  our  army — artillery,  cavalry, 
infantry  and  engineers — were  represented  within  the  battle  lines  of 
the  Slavs ;  all  except  cavalry  on  the  side  of  the  Japanese.  A  member  of 
our  general  staff  was  with  each  army.  Five  of  these  military  observers 
were  detailed  from  Manila ;  two  from  this  country.  Three  had  already 
arrived  at  the  seat  of  war  when  the  first  gun  was  fired  at  Port  Arthur. 

Lessons  of  Value. 

Our  War  and  Navy  Departments  realized  many  months  before  the 
war  began  that  a  bloody  conflict  in  the  Orient  was  inevitable  and  that 
lessons  of  inestimable  value  to  the  United  States  were  to  be  learned 
from  it.  These  fourteen  Yankee  war  observers  were  selected  with  great 
care.  They  were  all  men  of  surpassing  courage  and  perspicuity.  They 
kept  their  ears  and  eyes  wide  open,  but  at  the  same  time  carefully 
observed  the  delicate  formulas  of  international  law  governing  men  of 
their  status. 


AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS.  297 

They  were  entertained  as  the  official  guests  of  the  respective  belh'g- 
erents  to  whom  accredited.  They  waded  into  the  gore  of  battle  and 
divided  their  time  between  the  headquarters  of  the  highest  royal  per- 
sonages in  the  theater  of  war  and  those  of  the  commanders-in-chief. 
They  enjoyed  the  protection  accorded  always  to  non-combatants.  Any 
deliberate  attempts  against  their  lives  or  safety,  on  the  part  of  either 
the  Russians  or  Japanese,  would  have  been  resented  by  our  government 
as  a  serious  insult.  Such  an  act  might  have  led  to  a  bloody  war  between 
the  United  States  and  the  offending  government. 

Took  Preliminary  Tour. 

Our  observer  of  highest  rank  on  the  Russian  side  was  Brigadier- 
General  Henry  T.  Allen,  chief  of  the  Philippine  constabulary.  Fore- 
seeing the  approach  of  the  conflict,  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  from 
Manila  and,  at  his  own  expense,  made  a  long  tour  of  study  through 
Korea  and  Manchuria.  Inasmuch  as  he  was  for  several  years  our  mili- 
tary attache  at  the  court  of  the  Czar,  he  was  well  known  to  the  Russian 
officers  and  was  at  home  among  them.  Colonel  John  B.  Kerr,  who 
represented  our  general  staff  on  the  Russian  side,  was  a  cavalry  officer 
and  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  went  from  Manila  to  join  the  Russians, 
as  did  Captain  Carl  Reichman,  of  the  Seventeenth  Infantry,  and  Captain 
George  G.  Gatley,  of  the  Artillery  Corps.  Captain  Reichman  was  a 
German  who  enlisted  in  our  army  as  a  private  in  1881  and  worked  his 
way  up  through  the  ranks,  gaining  a  commission  in  three  years  of 
service.  He  was  captain  and  assistant  adjutant-general  of  volunteers 
during  the  Spanish-American  war  and  captain  of  the  regular  army  since 
that  struggle.  Captain  Gatley  was  a  native  of  Maine  and  a  West 
Pointer.  He  left  the  Seventeenth  Field  Artillery  in  the  Philippines  to 
join  the  Czar's  army.  The  other  two  military  observers  on  the  Russian 
side  were  Captain  William  V.  Judson,  a  Hoosier  and  a  West  Pointer 
who  was  lately  attached  to  the  office  of  the  chief  engineer  at  Washing- 
ton, and  Captain  Andre  W.  Brewster,  a  Jerseyman  commissioned  from 
civilian  life  in  1885.  Captain  Brewster  was  our  military  attache  at 
Peking,  China,  where  he  was  doing  duty  when  the  present  war  opened. 


^98  AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS. 

Our  ranking  observer  on  the  Japanese  side  was  Colonel  E.  H.  Crow- 
der,  the  general  staff's  authority  on  military  law.  He  had  previously 
been  attached  to  the  War  Department  as  assistant  judge-advocate-gen- 
eral. He  was  a  Missourian,  a  West  Pointer  and  an  ex-cavalry  oilicer. 
Major  Oliver  E.  Wood,  who  observed  the  struggle  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  Mikado's  army,  was  our  military  attache  at  Seoul  and  Tokio,  at 
wdiich  latter  capital  he  was  serving  w^hen  hostilities  commenced.  A 
Connecticut  Yankee,  w^ho  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  as  a  private  in 
'62,  he  won  a  cadetship  at  West  Point  a  year  later  and  was  a  major  in 
the  Artillery  Corps  when  accredited  to  Seoul  and  Tokio.  The  three 
other  army  officers  detailed  on  the  Japanese  side  were  Captain  J.  F. 
Morrison,  Twentieth  Infantry;  Captain  J.  E.  Kuhn,  Engineer  Corps, 
both  of  whom  departed  from  Manila,  and  Captain  Frederick  Marsh, 
Artillery  Corps,  who  had  been  stationed  at  Fort  Strong,  Massachusetts. 
These  three  captains  were  W^est  Pointers  and  men  of  thorough  tech- 
nical training. 

Our  Intelligence  Bureaus. 

In  Washington  there  is  maintained  under  the  War  Department  a 
bureau  of  military  intelligence,  corresponding  to  the  bureau  of  the 
French  army  to  which  the  martyred  Dreyfus  was  attached.  The  head  oi 
this  office,  at  the  time  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  was  Major  W.  D. 
JBeach,  Tenth  Cavalry,  a  member  of  the  new  general  staff.  To  him  all 
of  our  military  observers  in  the  Orient  reported  such  data  as  they 
gathered  at  the  seat  of  war,  the  modus  operandi  being  the  same  as  in 
the  case  of  our  regularly  accredited  military  attaches  at  the  great  Euro- 
pean courts. 

Under  the  Navy  Department  there  is  a  similar  bureau,  in  charge 
of  Captain  Seaton  Schroeder,  U.  S.  N.,  to  whom  our  three  naval  observ- 
ers accredited  to  the  belligerent  powers  reported.  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander C.  C.  Marsh,  our  naval  attache  at  Peking  and  Tokio,  studied 
the  war  from  the  Japanese  fleet,  while  Lieutenant  N.  A.  McCully,  late 
of  the  United  States  dispatch  boat  Dolphin,  was  attached  to  the  Russian 
ileet.     Lieutenant-Commander  R.  C.  Smith,  our  naval  attache  at  Paris 


AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS.  299 

■and  St.  Petersburg,  studied  the  mobilization  of  the  Russian  army  on 
the  European  side,  and  accompanied  troops  across  the  trans-Siberian 
Railway. 

All  of  these  observers  ranked  as  special  military  and  naval  attaches. 
They  wore  their  fatigue  uniforms  and  were  required  to  leave  ofif  their 
swords,  as  a  sign  that  they  were  non-combatants.  The  military  observ- 
^ers  were  lent  horses  by  the  Russian  and  Japanese  commanders  to  whose 
xirmies  they  were  accredited.  They  moved  in  the  fields  as  members 
•of  these  commanders'  staffs,  messed  with  them  and  occupied  the  same 
quarters.  Technically,  they  were,  the  guests  of  the  Czar  and  Mikado, 
who  detailed  the  military  and  naval  commanders  to  entertain  them. 

In  a  Delicate  Position. 

For  any  of  these  observers  to  act  the  part  of  spy  would  be  a  breach 
•of  military  etiquette,  than  which  none  could  possibly  be  more  serious. 
It  cannot  be  predicted  what  punishment  would  be  meted  out  to  them, 
but  if  found  prying  into  secrets  such  as  all  fighting  nations  hold  sacred 
— such  as  plans  of  fortifications — they  would  immediately  become  per- 
sona non  grata,  and  their  recall  from  the  field  would  speedily  follow. 
While  viewing  battles,  and  casually  conversing  with  their  hosts,  they 
<:ould  not  give  advice  of  a  military  nature  without  transgressing  the 
tenets  of  international  law,  and  committing  a  breach  of  neutrality. 

In  the  Russo-Japanese  war  science  played  a  heavier  role  than  had 
€ver  been  before  attempted  in  any  battle  drama.  Both  belligerents  were 
suspected  at  the  beginning  of  having,  somewhere  hidden  away,  surprises 
terrible  and  bloody,  to  be  sprung  at  the  opportune  moment.  Our  mili- 
tary and  naval  observers  were  detailed  for  the  express  purpose  of 
acquainting  their  respective  intelligence  bureaus  in  Washington  with 
the  newest  scientific,  administrative  and  technical  developments  of  the 
war.  They  noted  all  novelties  in  small  arms,  ordnance,  gun-sighting, 
uniforms,  tents,  accoutrements,  war  balloons,  field  telegraph  devices, 
signals,  steering  gear  for  ships,  turrets,  searchlights,  torpedoes,  sub- 
marine boats  and  what  not.  They  reported  these  to  Washington.  It 
was,  of  course,  understood  that  all  of  these  data  were  to  be  gathered 


300  AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS. 

in  an  open  and  legitimate  manner.  No  American  military  or  naval 
•attache  was  ever  accused  of  corrupting  foreign  officials  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  goverament  secrets. 

Not  Diplomats. 

These  special  military  and  naval  attaches,  like  the  regular  attaches 
accredited  abroad  in  time  of  peace,  were  technically  attached  to  the 
mission  of  our  Ambassador  to  Russia  or  Minister  to  Japan,  according 
to  which  army  or  fleet  they  would  study.  But  neither  Ambassador 
McCormick  nor  Minister  Griscom  were  responsible  for  them  as  they 
would  have  been  for  ordinary  diplomatic  attaches  forming  a  part  of 
their  suites.  They  were  detailed  not  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  but  the 
Secretary  of  War  or  Navy,  and  they  received  their  instructions  directly 
from  these  departments.  They  were  attached  to  the  embassy  at  St, 
Petersburg  or  legation  at  Tokio  only  that  they  might  be  endowed  with 
the  extra-territorial  and  diplomatic  immunities  and  prerogatives  ex- 
tended to  the  staffs  of  all  diplomatic  missions  abroad.  They  ranked 
with  the  first  secretaries,  whereas  diplomatic  attaches  are  in  a  grade 
below  the  most  subordinate  secretaries. 

Noted  Military  Attaches. 

American  officers  have  been  detailed  to  study  all  great  foreign  wars 
of  the  past  century.  Scott  viewed  the  occupation  of  Paris  by  the  allied 
troops  and  accompanied  the  Duke  of  Wellington  during  their  review. 
McClellan  and  two  other  officers  accompanied  the  allied  armies  at  the 
siege  of  Sebastopol.  Sheridan  and  Forsyth  studied  the  Franco-German 
war  from  the  German  side.  Our  Minister  to  Paris  endeavored  to  gain 
permission  for  Sheridan  to  view  the  French  side,  but  the  request  was 
refused  by  the  French  Minister  of  War.  It  became  known  later,  how- 
ever, that  Sheridan  had  picked  the  Germans  as  the  winners  from  the 
start,  and  that  he  never  had  intended  joining  the  French.  During  the 
Russo-Turkish  war  Francis  V.  Greene  (late  police  commissioner  of 
New  York)  was  our  attache  v/ith  the  Russian  army,  Colonel  Chambers 
observing  on  the  Turkish  side,  while  General  Hazen  was  dispatched 


AMERICAN  NONCOMBATANTS.  301 

to  Constantinople  to  be  ready  to  accompany  the  Austrians  in  the  event 
that  they  took  a  hand  in  the  struggle. 

Prince  Napoleon  was  the  guest  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  during 
our  Civil  War;  Lord  Wolseley,  ex-commander-in-chief  of  the  British 
army,  traveled  with  both  the  Union  and  Confederate  forces. 

Military  attaches  have  unusual  opportunities  for  developing  the 
friendship  of  foreign  rulers.  Sheridan  was  the  special  guest  of  the  King 
of  Prussia  and  became  an  intimate  friend  of  Bismarck,  sometimes  sleep- 
ing in  the  same  room  with  the  latter.  General  Miles  hobnobbed  with 
practically  all  of  the  crowned  heads  of  the  Old  World  during  his  long 
tour  of  inspection  following  the  Graeco-Turkish  war.  More  recently, 
Commander  William  H.  Beehler,  our  naval  attache  at  Berlin,  became 
a  chum  of  Emperor  William,  who  familiarly  addressed  the  commander 
as  "Bill"  and  affectionately  rested  the  imperial  arm  on  his  shoulder  on 
several  public  occasions.  Commander  Beehler  breakfasted,  lunched  and 
dined  with  the  Emperor  twenty-seven  times  in  two  years.  Just  what 
William  tried  to  learn  from  "Bill"  has  never  yet  been  fathomed.  But 
what  Bill  divulged  to  William  was  nothing  worth  knowing,  and  he  left 
Berlin  with  the  confidence  of  his  superiors  in  Washington.  He  kept  his 
head  in  spite  of  royal  flattery,  wherefore  he  "ought  to  have  a  tablet  in 
the  hall  of  fame." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR 

Anarchy  in  China  Feared — Secretary  Hay's  Note — Severance  of  Diplomatic  Relations 
between  Japan  and  Russia — The  Daring  Torpedo  Attack  on  Port  Arthur — Japanese 
Success  Establishes  Chinese  Influence — Naval  Conflict  at  Chemulpo — First  Prizes  of 
the  War — Arrival  of  Japanese  Troops  at  Seoul — Repulse  of  Japanese  Landing  Party — 
Destruction  of  the  Boyarin. 

THE  Chinese  Minister  in  Washington,  Sir  Chen  Tung  Liang-Cheng^ 
was  as  deeply  concerned  at  the  beginning  of  hostilities  between 
Japan  and  Russia  as  was  either  the  Japanese  Minister,  Mr.  Takahira, 
or  Count  Cassini,  the  Russian  Ambassador.  The  Chinese  diplomatic 
officer  in  the  United  States  feared  that  the  war  would  cause  a  recur- 
rence of  the  unrest  that  preceded  the  Boxer  uprising  of  1900.  There 
is  a  large  element  of  the  Chinese  which  does  not  appreciate  the  differ- 
ence between  nationalities,  and  are  disposed  to  look  with  equal  hatred 
upon  a  Russian  soldier  or  an  American  or  English  missionary,  regard- 
ing all  foreigners  in  China  as  her  foes. 

Plans  for  China's  Protection. 

His  Excellency,  the  Chinese  Minister,  feared  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  and  the  entire  Chinese  Court  would  take  flight  and  leave  the 
Imperial  Palace,  at  Pekin,  as  they  did  on  August  14,  1900.  With  the 
court  away  from  Pekin,  China  would  be  practically  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 
Such  a  state  of  affairs  would  completely  demoralize  the  whole  of  the 
Chinese  populace — such  a  condition,  with  no  government  head  at  Pekin,. 
would  close  every  door  of  communication  with  the  powers.  The  United 
States,  and  several  of  the  European  governments,  were  extremely 
anxious  that  this  menace  to  foreigners  in  China  be  averted  and  brought 
every  pressure  to  bear,  that  they  possibly  could,  to  prevent  the  Empress 
Dowager,  the  Emperor  and  the  court  from  leaving  Pekin. 

302 


.  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  303 

These  timid  and  easily  frightened  rulers  were  given  assurances  that 
they  would  have  every  protection,  but  naturally  Orientals,  particularly 
the  Chinese,  are  very  suspicious  of  foreigners  and  their  devices.  When 
we  consider  how  they  have  been  trifled  with,  by  several  European  gov- 
ernments, this  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 

Secretary  Hay's  note  to  the  powers  was  intended  to  bring  about  a 
concert  so  that  the  Pekin  government  would  not  be  left  without  a  head.. 
One  of  the  objects  of  that  note  was  to  induce  the  Empress  Dowager  to- 
abandon  her  flight  to  the  interior  provinces  of  the  empire. 

Flight  of  the  Empress  Prevented. 

Only  those  who  have  been  in  China  can  appreciate  the  serious  results 
which  may  follow  the  flight  of  the  Empress  Dowager  from  the  capital 
in  time  of  war.  War  is  the  signal,  and  the  opportunity,  for  disturbances 
in  various  parts  of  China  which  always  endanger  the  lives  and  property 
of  the  missionaries  and  other  foreign  residents.  For  this  reason,  there 
was  an  earnest  desire  on  the  part  of  the  neutral  powers  to  prevent  this 
contingency.  Some,  it  is  said,  were  inclined  to  go  so  far  as  to  guarantee 
the  integrity  of  China,  but  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  close  relations  of  the 
European  powers,  either  with  Russia  or  Japan.  No  doubt  the  neutral 
European  governments  were  pleased  when  the  United  States  took  the 
initiative,  as  expressed  in  the  Hay  note.  A  guarantee  of  neutrality  of 
China  was  considered,  at  that  time,  a  step  in  the  direction  of  preserving 
the  integrity  of  China.  The  powers,  with  one  exception,  adopted  the 
policy  as  suggested  by  Secretary  Hay. 

It  is  known  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  his  cabinet 
were  several  days  considering  the  proposition  of  this  government,  as 
sent  out  to  the  powers  by  Secretary  Hay,  in  all  its  bearings,  as  an  aid 
to  helpless  China.  Minister  Conger,  our  diplomatic  officer  at  Pekin, 
was  of  great  assistance  in  satisfying  the  Chinese  government  that  the 
court  would  be  perfectly  safe  in  Pekin.  This,  it  is  said,  had  the  effect 
of  quieting  the  Empress  Dowager  and  her  court  and  they  decided  not 
to  flee  from  Pekin  for  the  time  being. 

While  the  diplomatic  relations  between  Japan  and  Russia  were,  ta- 


304  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

all  intents  and  purposes,  cut  off  on  Feb.  5th,  the  Japanese  Minister  to 
St.  Petersburg,  Mr.  Kurino,  and  Baron  Rosen,  the  Russian  Minister 
to  Japan,  did  not  actually  take  their  leave  until  the  7th.  This  made 
the  severance  of  diplomatic  relations  complete. 

Attitude  of  the  United  States. 

The  diplomatic  affairs  of  Japan  in  Russia  and  the  interests  of  the 
Mikado's  subjects  there  were  turned  over  to  United  States  Ambassador 
McCormick,  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  attitude  of  the  United  States  in 
this  war  was  to  observe  complete  neutrality  and  this  policy  was  declared 
at  the  beginning  of  hostilities  at  Chemulpo  and  Port  Arthur. 

After  careful  consideration,  the  United  States  Navy  Department 
decided  that  it  would  make  no  effort  to  place  naval  attaches  on  either 
the  Russian  or  Japanese  fleets.  There  was  not  the  least  doubt  on  the 
part  of  Admiral  Dewey  but  that  the  consent  of  both  Russia  and  Japan 
could  be  obtained  to  send  our  naval  observers  with  their  fighting  ships. 
Even  though  both  governments  refused  this  courtesy  to  our  navy,  the 
United  States  Government  would  have  had  no  grounds  for  complaint. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Uncle  Sam  would  not  permit  the  attaches 
of  foreign  navies  to  accompany  our  warships  during  the  Spanish  war. 

Russian  Fleet  Taken  by  Surprise. 

On  Feb.  9th  and  loth  the  press  dispatches  brought  sensational  news 
regarding  the  attack  of  the  Japanese  torpedo  boats  upon  the  Russian 
naval  fleet  anchored  in  the  roads  just  outside  the  entrance  of  Port 
Arthur  harbor.  The  attack  was  made  by  the  swift  Japanese  torpedo 
boats  during  the  dark  night  of  Monday,  Feb.  8th.  They  fairly  hugged 
the  coast  as  they  approached  the  entrance  and  when  in  close  range  of 
that  part  of  the  fleet  anchored  just  outside  the  entrance  to  the  harbor 
the  Japs  discharged  several  torpedoes  toward  their  enemy's  fleet.  Sev- 
eral men-of-war,  including  the  Cesarevitch,  Retvizan  and  Pallada,  were 
disabled.  The  crippled  fighting  ships  of  the  Czar  limped  toward  Port 
Arthur  and  almost  at  its  very  entrance  were  beached. 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  305 

Influence  of  the  Japanese  Victory. 

This  was  a  staggering  blow  to  proud  and  powerful  Russia.  The 
news  of  the  daring  feat  of  the  fearless  Japs  amazed  the  world.  The 
dispatches  descriptive  of  this  attack  were  at  first  fragmentary  and  un- 
satisfactory to  the  outside  world.  But  each  day  the  intelligence  kept 
coming  over  the  cables  which  verified  what  was  bad  news  to  Russia 
and  her  friends  and  good  news  for  the  Japanese  and  their  admirers. 
In  every  remote  corner  of  the  globe  where  newspapers  are  published, 
in  English,  French,  German,  Italian,  Portuguese,  Russian,  Swedish,  Dan- 
ish, Japanese  and  Chinese,  the  reports  of  this  opening  battle  of  the  war 
was  printed.  The  influence  this  news  had  upon  the  Chinese,  in  further 
cementing  the  friendship  that  had  begun  in  1900  for  their  former  enemy, 
the  Japanese,  can  not  be  overestimated. 

Russia  had  used  the  opportunity  for  her  encroachments  upon  China, 
by  making  that  country  fear  her.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
Chinese  rejoiced  when  they  learned  that  the  Japanese  had  punished 
Russia  so  severely  in  the  first  conflict  of  the  war.  If  it  is  true  that 
nothing  "succeeds  like  success,"  as  we  look  at  things  in  America,  then 
it  is  more  than  true  that  success  and  victory  has  a  still  greater  influence 
over  the  Chinese.  The  Chinese,  like  ourselves,  desire  to  be  on  the 
winning  side.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  the  slant  eyed  Orientals 
possess  that  characteristic  in  a  still  higher  degree  than  Americans.  It 
can  be  easily  understood  then  what  an  influence  Japan's  victory  at  Port 
Arthur  had  in  establishing  Chinese  influence  at  the  initial  battle  of  the 
war. 

The  First  Attack  on  Port  Arthur. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  letter  from  the  wife  of  a  Russian 
naval  officer  stationed  at  Port  Arthur: 

"At  eleven  o'cloc'-  on  the  morning  of  February  8  my  husband  came 
to  me  in  great  excitement  saying  I  should  pack  up  as  quickly  as  possi- 
ble as  he  had  heard  that  our  local  banker,  G.,  was  despatching  on  his 
own  steamer  the  families  of  his  employes  and  had  offered  me  a  passage 
by  the  same  steamer.    The  boat,  however,  was  to  start  in  three  hours 


300  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

time,  and  as  I  had  many  arrangements  to  make  for  my  little  son  it  was 
clearly  impossible  that  I  could  avail  myself  of  his  kind  offer. 

Under  Orders  to  Leave. 

"Therefore  we  decided  that  I  should  start  for  St.  Petersburg  by  the 
express  on  the  next  evening.  On  going  to  the  bureau  for  my  tickets 
they  refused  to  issue  them,  but  booked  my  name  for  a  seat.  I  was 
much  hurried  as  my  husband  had  to  be  on  board  his  ship  by  five  p.  m.^ 
his  ship  being  under  orders  for  some  expected  night  operations.  For 
several  days  communication  with  the  shore  had  been  stopped  after 
eight  p.  m.,  by  which  time  both  officers  and  men  of  the  fleet  were 
ordered  to  be  on  board.  This  was  my  final  good-bye  to  my  husband 
as  the  next  morning  the  squadron  was  under  orders  to  start  for  a  cruise^ 
though  for  how  long  was  not  known. 

Packing  Up. 

"Whilst  engaged  in  packing  two  of  my  military  acquaintances  passed 
by  much  excited ;  they  told  me  that  a  decisive  reply  was  expected  hourly. 
That  the  prevailing  state  of  uncertainty  was  likely  soon  to  come  to  an 
end  gave  us  all  great  relief,  and  I  bade  them  my  adieus  with  all  good 
wishes  for  their  advancement  and  success.  My  husband's  servant  came 
to  tell  me  that  the  Chinese  were  leaving  the  markets  and  flying  in  all 
directions ;  the  Japanese  likewise  were  hastily  closing  their  shops  and 
hurrying  on  board  the  steamers.  I  then  returned  to  my  packing,  though 
it  did  not  progress  very  quickly;  indeed,  the  sight  of  so  many  valuable 
things  scattered  in  all  directions  brought  the  tears  to  my  eyes.  Around 
me  lay  exquisite  things  of  every  description — silks,  laces,  curios,  down 
to  small  models  of  the  ships  of  my  husband's  squadron,  and  the  thousand 
and  one  articles  with  which  a  sailor's  wife  in  the  Far  East  surrounds 
herself.  Where  to  bestow  them  all  I  scarcely  knew.  An  oppressive 
silence  pervaded  the  atmosphere ;  the  servants  had  all  retired  to  rest. 
I  w^as  alone. 

The  Sound  of  Guns. 

"Suddenly  there  broke  on  my  ear  the  sound  of  volley-firing  at  in- 
tervals.    It  passed  through  my  mind  that  these  sounds  came  from  the- 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  307 

docks,  where  they  were  working  by  night.  Such,  however,  was  not 
the  case;  there  was  incessant  volleys,  followed  by  the  dull  roar  of  heavy 
guns  from  the  fortress  which  made  the  very  room  shake.  I  roused  the 
servants,  bidding  them  fetch  C.  He  appeared  almost  immediately  with 
-the  news  that  an  engagement  was  taking  place,  the  Japanese  having 
actually  attacked.  I  went  out  on  to  the  balcony,  and  there  the  whole 
town  seemed  illuminated — now  here,  now  there — by  searchlights.  The 
town  itself  was  but  little  disturbed  save  for  a  small  crowd  which  had 
collected  outside  the  residence  of  the  viceroy.  I  was  panic-stricken;  I 
went  inside  and  tried  to  finish  my  packing.  I  could  not ;  the  very  things 
slipped  from  my  fingers.  What  mattered  my  belongings  when  a  fight 
for  life  or  death  was  raging  close  at  hand?  Enough  that  I  could  save 
my  child.  Thus  I  passed  that  dreadful  night,  but  morning  brought  no 
relief,  only  the  realization  of  our  worst  fears.  Our  great  ships,  the 
Cesarevitch,  the  Retvisan  and  the  Pallada,  had  all  been  damaged. 

The  Damaged  Battleships. 

"I  next  heard  that  the  time  of  departure  of  the  express  had  been 
altered  and  that  I  must  start  at  eleven  a.  m.,  and  soon  after  we  set  out  for 
the  station.  The  town  was  comparatively  quiet,  but  on  the  lips  of  all 
trembled  the  words,  'the  Cesarevitch,'  *the  Retvisan,'  and  again,  'the 
Cesarevitch.'  The  huge  battleship  loomed  on  the  horizon  at  the  en- 
trance to  the  harbor.  Suddenly  the  news  spread  that  the  Japanese 
squadron  had  been  sighted  and  were  making  for  Port  Arthur.  As  I 
left  our  ships  were  weighing  anchor  and  a  battle  seemed  imminent. 
With  some  little  difficulty  we  made  our  way  to  the  station,  where  the 
greatest  confusion  existed.  The  platform  was  literally  strewn  with  bag- 
gage of  every  description.  I  was  lucky  enough  owing  to  the  kindness  of 
Mr.  C.  to  obtain  a  ticket,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  crowd  I  pushed  and 
elbowed  my  way  to  the  train.  Here  again  I  fortunately  secured  a  seat, 
the  train  moved  off  and  it  was  good-bye  to  Port  Arthur  and  to  our 
husbands,  who  at  that  very  moment  were  awaiting  the  Japanese  attack. 
That  God  might  preserve  them  was  the  prayer  in  every  heart.  V/hen 
we  reached  our  first  stopping  place  we  could  hear  the  sound  of  volleys. 


3o3  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

and  the  express  which  overtook  us  later  on  brought  the  news  that  the 
Japanese  attack  had  lasted  forty  minutes.  We  also  learnt  that  not  much 
damage  had  been  done  to  the  Cesarevitch  and  that  both  the  other  ships 
would  shortly  be  fit  for  service  again.  Our  journey  was  very  tedious; 
the  train  dragged  slowly  along,  stopping  incessantly  at  small  stations. 
All  along  the  line  the  same  confusion  as  at  Port  Arthur  prevailed,  and 
I  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  even  the  bare  necessaries  of  life 
for  my  little  child  and  myself;  sometimes  even  a  little  bread  was  unpro- 
curable. 

On  the  Road  to  Russia. 

"On  our  arrival  at  Manchuria  station  all  our  baggage  had  to  be 
examined.  Here  the  custom-house  officials  treated  us  with  great  civil- 
ity, in  marked  contrast  to  the  railway  officials.  After  a  long  wait  at 
the  station  they  opened  the  doors  of  the  wagons  and  we  crowded  in 
quickly,  sharing  the  cramped  accommodation  with  the  poor  children, 
many  of  whom  were  crying  from  exhaustion.  A  police  official  then 
appeared  and  roughly  ordered  us  to  get  out  as  the  signal  to  enter  the 
carriages  had  not  been  given.  We  protested,  and  after  fierce  alterca- 
tion on  either  side  we  remained  where  we  were. 

On  Lake  Baikal. 

"On  our  arrival  at  Baikal  the  weather  luckily  became  rather  less 
severe,  there  being  no  wind,  which  is  the  one  thing  to  be  dreaded  as 
the  cold  there  is  almost  unbearable.  As  we  crossed  over  we  passed 
numberless  sledges  packed  with  soldiers,  whilst  many  were  proceeding 
on  foot  wrapped  up  in  their  warm  coats.  On  reaching  the  other  side 
of  the  lake  there  was  a  long  delay,  our  baggage  being  again  examined. 
We  arrived  at  Irkutsk  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  there  found 
we  had  a  wait  of  several  hours.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene  which 
here  presented  itself.  The  platform  was  so  crowded  with  people  and 
their  baggage  that  there  was  no  place  for  even  the  children  to  lie  down. 
I  spread  out  my  coat  on  the  floor  of  the  platform  intending  to  lay  my 
little  son  down  but  found  it  impossible;  there  was  only  standing  room. 
The  little  ones  were  dropping  from  fatigue  and  many  wept  bitterly. 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  309 

We  gave  up  the  idea  of  continuing  our  journey  by  the  first  train  and 
decided  to  book  our  tickets  by  the  express,  and  sought  shelter  in  an  inn 
until  the  morning.  We  passed  some  few  hours  in  Irkutsk,  which 
seemed  a  pleasant  town  and  not  so  cold  as  we  expected.  We  caught 
the  express  the  same  afternoon,  and  the  remainder  of  our  journey  pre- 
sented no  difficulties.  Of  course  we  did  not  travel  as  fast  as  is  usual 
owing  to  the  numbers  of  troop  and  goods  trains  filled  with  every  kind 
of  war  material  which  were  to  be  met  with  at  nearly  every  station  and 
siding.  The  soldiers  seemed  in  great  spirits,  singing  and  jesting;  all 
seemed  fully  confident  of  success  and  somewhat  contemptuous  of  their 
Httle  adversaries.  Our  journey  was  completed  without  further  incident, 
and  we  reached  St.  Petersburg  nineteen  days  after  our  departure  from 
Port  Arthur." 

Difficulty  in  Getting  News. 

Closely  following  the  news  of  the  Japanese  naval  victory  at  Port 
Arthur  came  the  reports  of  a  naval  conflict  at  Chemulpo,  Korea.  It 
probably  will  always  be  a  question  as  to  which  battle  occurred  first.  The 
Russians  held  that  the  war  began  at  Port  Arthur,  while  the  Japanese 
claimed  that  the  first  shot  was  fired  at  Chemulpo.  The  difficulties  of 
news  gathering  in  the  Far  East  are  not  well  understood  in  our  country, 
where  we  have  every  facility  for  obtaining  and  disseminating  the  news 
for  each  day,  so  that  the  important  events  are  known  to  the  people 
within  a  few  hours  after  they  happen.  The  conditions  in  the  Orient 
are  different.  It  requires  time  to  get  across  the  waters  to  a  cable  line. 
After  the  cable  is  reached,  there  is  the  censor  to  be  reckoned  with  and 
the  message  is  involved  in  red  tape,  so  that  it  requires  a  great  deal  of 
time  to  arrange  the  preliminaries  for  filing  a  news  dispatch.  After  the 
dispatch  is  filed  there  are  apt  to  be  delays  at  other  points. 

The  Battle  of  Chemulpo. 

The  facts,  however,  regarding  the  battle  of  Chemulpo  are  as  fol- 
lows :  On  the  8th  of  February,  two  Russian  men-of-war,  the  Korietr 
and  Variag  were  lying  at  Chemulpo.    On  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the 


3IO 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 


Korietz  left  Chemulpo  for  Port  Arthur  with  the  mails,  but  meeting  a 
Japanese  fleet  convoying  transports,  and  having  three  torpedoes  fired 
at  her,  she  returned  to  Chemulpo.  The  Japanese  admiral  claimed  that 
the  first  shot  was  fired  by  the  Russian  ship,  whereupon  he  ordered  a 
torpedo  attack.  On  the  following  morning  the  senior  Russian  com- 
mander received  a  letter  from  the  Japanese  admiral  saying  that  unless 
the  two  ships  left  the  port  before  twelve  o'clock  on  that  day  the.  Japan- 
ese ships  would  go  into  the  harbor  and  attack  them. 

A  Forlorn  Hope. 

The  Russians,  having  no  alternative,  left  the  harbor  shortly  before 
noon,  well  knowing  that  they  were  going  to  certain  destruction.  The 
crews  of  the  foreign  ships  in  the  harbor,  Talbot  (English),  Vicksburg 
(American),  Pascal  (French),  and  Elba  (Italian)  loudly  cheered  the 
Russian  sailors  as  the  latter  left,  for  the  courage  displayed.  Outside 
the  harbor  were  fifteen  ships  of  the  Japanese  fleet.  These  opened  fire 
at  long  range.  The  Variag  remained  for  a  time  unhit,  but  getting 
aground  on  a  sand  bank  she  was  terribly  punished.  The  Captain  find- 
ing all  hope  of  escape  gone,  determined  to  try  to  return  to  the  harbor. 
The  Variag,  leaking  very  badly  from  holes  on  her  water-line,  just 
managed  to  reach  her  original  anchorage,  when  she  heeled  over  and 
sank.  Just  about  this  time  the  Korietz  blew  up,  having  been  set  on  fire 
by  her  crew  to  save  her  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese. 
The  crews  of  both  ships  were  rescued  by  the  boats  of  the  foreign  men- 
of-war.  After  his  ship  was  disabled  the  captain  of  the  Variag  ordered 
his  officers  and  crew  to  jump  overboard  and  save  themselves  if  they 
could,  and  then  blew  up  the  ship. 

Scores  of  Russians  Killed. 

About  200  men  were  killed  and  wounded.  Many  were  drowned  in 
the  attempt  to  escape,  a  great  number  swam,  not  to  the  shore,  but  to 
the  foreign  men-of-war  in  the  harbor,  which  promptly  lowered  boats 
and  went  to  their  rescue.  About  150  reached  the  Talbot.  Sir  Cyprian 
Bridge,  the  British  admiral  in  command  of  the  station,  ordered  that  the 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  311 

-wounded  Russians  should  not  be  handed  over  to  the  Japanese  unless 
they  so  desired. 

No  Japanese  Loss. 

The  Japanese  did  not  lose  a  man.  None  of  the  fleet,  which  in  over- 
whelming force,  was  damaged.  The  Russian  steamer  Sungari  was  also 
destroyed  and  sunk.  Both  war  ships  tried  to  escape  from  the  port 
before  dawn  but  eventually  put  back.  The  Korietz  accepted  the  Japan- 
ese challenge  and  alone  went  out  to  fight  the  whole  fleet.  She  was  com- 
pletely outmatched ;  the  Japanese  broadsides  raked  her  continually  until 
she  sank.  Many  of  her  crew  were  killed  by  shells  or  drowned,  and  the 
few  who  escaped  to  shore  were  captured. 

Prophetic  Words. 

The  captain  of  the  Korietz,  writing  to  a  relative  shortly  before  the 
battle,  used  these  prophetic  words :  *T  am  ready  to  go  to  sea  at  any 
minute.  From  day  to  day  we  have  been  expecting  a  fight  with  the 
Japanese.  We  expect  sudden  attacks  without  a  previous  declaration 
of  war.  The  wooden  fittmgs  are  being  taken  ashore.  We  have  no 
armor;  our  strength  is  only  in  the  guns  and  the  courage  of  our  men. 
We  Russians  often  depend  on  courage,  and  the  outcome  is  all  right. 
It  may  happen  that  it  will  not  fail  us  now.  I  shall  do  all  possible.  If 
they  send  us  to  the  bottom  say  a  good  word  for  us." 

A  Royal  Welcome. 

Upon  their  return  to  St.  Petersburg  the  entire  city  turned  out  to  do 
honor  to  the  survivors  of  the  warships  Variag  and  Korietz.  A  crowd 
of  100,000  persons  gathered  at  the  railway  station  when  the  sailors 
arrived.  After  being  greeted  by  Grand  Duke  Alexis  and  a  brilliant 
staff  of  admirals,  the  heroes  were  escorted  to  the  Winter  Palace,  where 
they  were  received  by  the  czar.  The  reception  was  in  the  magnificent 
Nicholas  Hall,  which  had  been  converted  into  a  church.  ^  A  special  Te 
Deum  was  sung  and  then  all  the  sailors  remained  for  a  banquet  as  the 
emperor's  guests. 

The  bluejackets,  seated  at  the  imperial  table  and  waited  on  by  the 


312  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

imperial  servants,  were  overcome  by  the  splendor  of  the  feast.  The 
emperor,  escorting  both  the  empresses,  approached  the  sailors  and  said: 
*T  am  happy,  brothers,  to  see  you  all  here  safely  returned.  Many  of 
you  have  inscribed  with  your  blood  a  record  of  heroic  deeds  in  our 
annals.  You  have  made  the  names  of  the  Variag  and  Korietz  immortal. 
I  am  sure  you  will  remain  worthy  to  the  last  of  the  crosses  which  have 
been  bestowed  on  you.  All  Russia  and  I  have  been  moved  by  the 
recital  of  your  exploits  at  Chemulpo,  I  thank  you,  brothers,  for  vindi- 
cating the  honor  of  the  flag  of  St.  Andrew  and  the  renown  of  holy 
Russia.  I  drink  to  the  further  victories  of  our  glorious  fleet  and  to  your 
health,  brothers." 

The  emperor  took  a  goblet  of  wine  and  drained  it  and  all  present 
followed  his  example  with  a  thunderous  shout  of  "Hurrah !"  The  em- 
peror then  went  round  the  table  exchanging  greetings  with  his  lowly 
guests. 

First  Prizes  of  the  War. 

The  first  prizes  of  the  war  were  taken  by  Japan.  They  consisted 
of  the  capture  of  one  steamer  of  the  Russian  volunteer  fleet,  the  Ekate- 
rinoslav,  and  the  steamer  Argun  belonging  to  the  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way Company.  On  Feb.  lo,  the  Japanese  captured  four  Russian  whal- 
ers, the  Glorige,  Nicelai,  Alexander,  and  Michael.  On  the  same  day, 
one  of  the  principal  railway  bridges,  over  which  the  Manchurian  Railway 
passes,  was  blown  up  by  a  Japanese  spy.  It  is  said  that  the  Japanese 
had  made  every  preparation  for  the  destruction  of  the  Manchurian  Rail- 
way, by  placing  Japanese  all  along  the  railway  line  dressed  as  Chinese 
€ooIies.  Disguised  in  this  manner  they  sought  work  with  the  railway 
company  and  were  in  a  position  to  strike  blows  for  the  destruction  of 
the  railway,  thus  delaying  the  recruiting  of  the  Russian  army. 

Japanese  Arrive  at  Seoul. 

On  February  ii,  the  dispatches  announced  that  the  Japanese  troops 
had  arrived  at  Seoul,  the  capital  of  Korea,  and  that  their  influence  and 
power  predominated  there.  Along  with  this  war  news  came  reports 
that  the  Russians  were  massacring  innocent  Chinese  in  different  sec- 


INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR.  313 

tions  of  Manchuria  and  looting  at  Vladivostok.  On  account  of  the  mas- 
sacre of  100  Chinese  at  Liaoyang,  the  Chinese  officials  at  Shan-Hai- 
Kwan  became  alarmed,  lest  there  might  be  a  general  uprising  among 
the  Chinese,  caused  by  this  practical  state  of  anarchy. 

They  made  frequent  appeals  to  the  Chinese  Government  at  Pekin 
for  protection,  but  of  course  China,  as  usual,  was  unable  to  give  her 
subjects  the  protection  they  asked  for  and  needed.  This  state  of  affairs 
tended  to  keep  the  Empress  Dowager  in  a  state  of  unrest  and  alarm 
and  it  required  the  combined  efforts  of  the  American  Minister,  the  Am- 
bassador from  England  and  the  other  foreign  diplomats  there  to  keep 
the  court  from  taking  flight  to  the  interior. 

Russian  Officers  at  a  Circus. 

One  of  the  most  surprising  things  to  the  outside  world  in  connection 
with  the  Japanese  attack  upon  the  Russian  warships  at  Port  Arthur. 
was  the  announcement  which  was  made  to  appear  as  an  excuse  for  the 
Russians,  that  they  were  attending  a  circus  at  Port  Arthur  when  the 
attack  upon  their  fleet  took  place.  The  circus,  it  is  said,  began  on 
Monday  night  and  did  not  terminate  until  early  Tuesday  morning.  It 
seems  remarkable  that  naval  officers  and  men  would  be  off  duty  when 
they  well  knew  that  a  state  of  war  had  existed  between  their  country 
and  Japan  for  three  days,  at  least. 

On  Sunday,  Feb.  14,  it  was  announced  that  the  Japanese  had  r.t- 
tempted  to  land  forces  near  Port  Arthur  and  were  repulsed,  sevc.:' 
hundred  of  them  being  sabered  by  Cossacks.  The  Japanese  follower: 
this  up  with  an  attempt  to  land  12,000  troops  at  Dove  Bay.  On  th^ 
following  day  the  news  reached  this  country  that  the  Japanese  had 
blown  up  the  Russian  cruiser  Boyarin  and  that  her  entire  crew  were  lost. 

Russian  Festivities  Abandoned. 

On  February  15,  the  carnival  week  began,  usually  the  gayest  of  the 
year  in  Russia,  but,  under  the  shadow  of  the  war,  the  merry-making 
amounted  to  only  an  imitation  of  that  of  former  years.  In  St.  Petersburg 
all  the  festivities,  including  balls,  public  and  private  social  functions 
and  fashionable  weddings,  planned  months  in  advance,  were  abandoned. 


^14  INITIAL  STAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

Everybody  in  Russia  was  thinking  of  the  war  and  the  future  of  the 
Empire.  The  rush  of  the  crowds  to  buy  extra  editions  of  the  news- 
papers, the  intense  activity  at  the  War  and  Marine  Ministries  and  the 
crowds  about  the  Admiralty,  anxiously  inquiring  about  the  fate  of  rela- 
tives, were  grim  reminders  of  what  the  thoughts  of  the  unhappy  people 
were. 

Instead  of  the  customary  festivities,  the  theatres  gave  double  per- 
formances for  the  benefit  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  the  Artist's  Ball,  one 
of  the  biggest  events  of  the  social  season,  which  it  was  intended  to 
abandon,  was  held  in  a  hall  decorated  to  represent  the  feast  day  of 
Benares,  the  artists  being  attired  in  the  costumes  of  the  Hindoos. 

Gloom  in  Russia  and  Joy  in  Japan. 

The  gloom  that  was  cast  over  the  people  of  Russia  at  the  beginning 
of  hostilities  with  Japan,  was  in  striking  contrast  to  the  high  spirits 
and  pride  of  the  Japanese  at  the  victories  they  won  in  the  beginning. 
Everywhere  in  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  Mikado's  land  his  subjects 
were  singing  the  patriotic  airs  of  Nippon.  The  people  on  the  streets 
and  the  country  by-ways  were  congratulating  each  other  over  the  vic- 
tories of  the  first  week  of  the  war  and  the  object  lesson  they  presented 
to  the  outside  world  and  the  incentive  furnished  to  all  patriotic  Japanese. 

On  February  17  it  was  learned  that  Japan  had  succeeded  in  concen- 
trating a  big  army  for  a  land  attack  on  Russia  in  Korea  and  Manchuria. 
At  the  same  time  from  an  authoritative  source  came  the  report  that 
Japan  would  send  250,000  troops  into  both  countries  and  if  necessary 
follow  up  this  number  with  as  many  more.  The  serious  reverses  which 
befell  the  Russian  fleet  at  Port  Arthur  led  to  the  recall  of  its  com- 
mander, Vice-Admiral  Stark  and  the  appointment  of  Admiral  Makarofif, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  in  the  service  of  the  Czar.  This 
event  was  followed  by  the  departure  of  General  Kouropatkin  to  take 
command  of  the  Russian  army  in  the  Far  East.  These  two  appoint- 
ments had  the  result  of  shearing  most  of  the  powers  from  Viceroy 
Alexiefif,  who  up  to  that  time  had  practicallj^  been  in  command  of  the 
Russian  land  and  sea  forces.  He  tendered  his  resignation  to  the  Czar 
but  the  latter  refused  to  accept  it. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR 

^The  Fourth  Assault — Wireless  Telegraphy  Used  by  Japanese — Thrilling  Torpedo  Duel — 
Bottling  up  the  Russian  Fleet — The  Japanese  Send  in  Fire  Ships — The  Fifth  Attack — 
Hirose,  the  Hero — Description  of  the  Beleagured  City — Vivid  Account  of  the  Bom- 
bardment by  a  Bussian  Officer. 

NUMEROUS  minor  assaults  on  Port  Arthur  occurred  during  the 
month  of  February,  but  Admiral  Togo's  fourth  attack  on  March 
lo  was  the  most  effective  since  the  first  assault  of  a  month  before.  One 
Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyer  was  sunk  and  several  seriously  dam- 
aged. The  fortifications  and  city  were  subjected  to  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment lasting  nearly  four  hours.  The  naval  bombardments  of  the  land 
works  were  generally  effective,  yet  the  peculiar  topographical  condi- 
tions of  Port  Arthur  were  such  that  serious  loss  of  life  from  sea  attacks 
were  seemingly  impossible. 

The  Harbor  Bombarded. 

Admiral  Togo's  torpedo  flotilla  opened  the  action  by  boldly  steam- 
ing in  under  the  batteries  and  successfully  placing  a  number  of 
mechanical  mines  at  the  mbuth  of  the  harbor.  Following  that  there 
was  a  desperate  bow  to  bow  encounter  between  the  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers, in  which  the  Japanese  scored  a  clear  victory.  Then  followed 
a  long-range  duel  between  the  cruisers,  ending  in  the  retirement  of  the 
Novik  and  Bayan,  the  only  Russians  engaged. 

The  closing  action  was  the  bombardment  of  the  inner  harbor  by  the 
Japanese  battleships.  The  latter  took  a  position  southwest  of  Port 
Arthur  and  used  only  their  12-inch  guns.  There  were  twenty-four 
12-inch  guns  in  the  squadron  of  six  battleships,  and  each  gun  fired  five 
rounds,  making  a  total  of  120  huge  projectiles  that  were  fired  at  the 
city.    The  bombardment  was  deliberate  and  carefully  planned. 

315 


3i6  THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 

In  order  to  aid  in  perfecting  the  firing  Admiral  Togo  stationed  the 
cruisers  in  a  position  due  east  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  and  at  a 
right  angle  to  the  battleships.  The  cruisers  observed  the  range  and 
effect  of  the  firing  and  signaled  the  results  and  suggestions  by  wireless 
telegraphy.  These  observations  and  reports  greatly  aided  the  gunners 
in  their  effort  to  make  every  shot  count. 

Admiral  Togo  was  unable  to  learn  definitely  the  results  of  the  bom- 
bardment, but  later  private  reports  indicated  that  much  destruction 
was  caused  in  the  city,  where  a  series  of  fires  broke  out.  There  also  was 
damage  to  batteries. 

A  Jap>anese  Hero. 

Captain  Shokiro  Asai,  commanding  the  flotilla  of  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers which  engaged  the  Russian  destroyers,  was  the  hero  of  the 
attack.  He  had  only  three  destroyers,  but  attacked  the  six  Russian 
destroyers,  ordering  his  craft  to  close  in  with  the  enemy.  He  steamed 
so  close  to  the  enemy's  destroyers  that  they  almost  touched,  and  a  most 
desperate  conflict  ensued,  from  which  the  Russians  retired  badly 
disabled. 

Engineer  Minamisawa  of  the  destroyer  Kasumi  received  a  small 
wound.  Minamisawa  participated  in  the  first  torpedo  attack  on  Port 
Arthur,  also  in  the  attempt  to  bottle  up  the  harbor  by  sinking  commer- 
cial steamers.    He  was  commended  both  times  for  his  gallantry. 

Object  of  the  Attack. 

The  Japanese  flotilla  which  sunk  the  mines  at  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor later  engaged  two  Russian  destroyers.  This  flotilla  was  commanded 
by  Commander  Tsuchiya. 

Admiral  Togo's  object  in  sending  cruisers  to  Talienwan  Bay  was  to 
encompass  the  destruction  of  a  signal  station  mine  depot  at  Samshantao. 
This  object  was  achieved  and  the  buildings  were  demolished. 

Rear  Admirals  Dewa  and  Uriu  participated  in  the  operations  under 
Admiral  Togo,  and  when  the  details  of  the  operations  became  known 
in  Japan  the  news  created  intense  enthusiasm. 


THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR.         317 

Admiral  Togo's  Report. 

Admiral  Togo's  report  of  the  assault  was  as  follows: 
"Our  squadron,  as  prearranged,  attacked  the  enemy  at  Port  Arthur 
on  March  10.  Our  two  torpedo  flotillas  reached  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor at  Port  Arthur  at  i  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  loth.  Finding 
no  enemy  and  waiting  until  dawn,  one  flotilla  engaged  in  sinking  special 
mines  in  the  harbor  entrance.  Notwithstanding  the  enemy's  fire  our 
flotilla  succeeded  in  sinking  the  mines.  The  other  flotilla  met  the  ene- 
my's torpedo  flotilla,  consisting  of  six  boats,  in  the  Lao  Thie  Shan  chan- 
nel south  of  Port  Arthur,  at  4:30  o'clock.  A  hot  engagement  occurred  at 
close  range  for  thirty  minutes.    The  enemy  then  took  flight. 

"Our  lire  greatly  damaged  the  Russian  ships,  one  of  which  was  badly 
crippled  by  a  shot  through  the  boilers,  and  another  was  observed  to  be 
on  fire.  So  close  were  the  two  flotillas  to  each  other  than  our  destroy- 
ers, the  Asashio,  Kasumi  and  Akatsuki,  nearly  touched  the  enemy's 
ships  and  our  crews  even  could  hear  the  cries  of  agony  of  the  injured 
men  on  them. 

Japanese  Sustain  Loss. 

"We  sustained  some  damage  and  loss.  The  Akatsuki  had  a  steam 
pipe  broken  and  four  stokers  were  killed  thereby.  Our  loss  was  seven 
killed  and  eight  wounded.  Among  the  latter  is  Chief  Engineer  Mina- 
misawa  of  the  Kasumi, 

"Our  other  flotilla,  while  leaving  the  harbor  entrance,  observed  two 
Russian  torpedo  boats  coming  from  seaward  and  immediately  engaged 
them,  the  battle  lasting  one  hour.  After  causing  them  severe  damage 
one  of  them  effected  its  escape,  but  our  destroyer,  the  Sasanami,  cap- 
tured the  other  boat,  which  proved  to  be  the  Stereguschtchi, 

"Notwithstanding  the  land  batteries  pouring  a  heavy  fire  on  our 
flotilla,  the  captured  vessel  was  taken  in  tow.  Owing  to  the  high  sea 
the  tow  line  soon  parted  and  the  Sasanami  found  it  necessary  to  take 
the  crew  from  the  Russian  boat  and  abandoned  the  Stereguschtchi, 
which  finally  sank  at  10:30  o'clock. 

"The  enemy's  cruisers,  the  Novik  and  the  Bayan,  steamed  out  the 


3i8  THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 

entrance  of  the  harbor  toward  us,  but,  observing  the  approach  of  our 
cruiser  squadron,  retired  to  the  harbor.  Our  flotilla  suffered  some 
damage,  but  not  heavy.  The  Sasanami  and  the  Akatsuki  had  two  sail- 
ors killed  and  Sublieutenant  Shima  of  the  Akatsuki  and  three  sailors 
were  wounded.  * 

"Our  main  and  cruiser  squadrons  arrived  ofif  Port  Arthur  at  8  o'clock^ 
and  the  cruisers  immediately  advanced  toward  the  harbor  entrance  to 
protect  the  torpedo  flotilla.  The  main  squadron  advanced  near  Lao- 
Thie-Shan  and  opened  an  indirect  cannonade  against  the  inner  harbor 
from  ID  o'clock  to  1 140. 

Bombardment  is  Effective. 

"According  to  the  observations  made  by  one  of  our  cruisers  facing^ 
the  entrance,  the  bombardment  was  remarkably  effective.  During  our 
cannonade,  the  enemy's  land  batteries  fired,  but  none  of  our  ships  suf- 
fered any  damage. 

"Another  cruiser  squadron  went  to  Talienwan  and  bombarded  the 
enemy's  fortress  on  Samshantao,  damaging  the  buildings  there.  The 
cruisers  Takasago  and  Chihaya,  reconnoitered  the  west  coast  of  the 
Port  Arthur  peninsula,  but  did  not  find  the  enemy. 

"The  Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyer,  damaged  in  the  third  attack 
on  Port  Arthur,  was  found  to  be  the  Wnushiterinuy,  which  had  been 
completely  sunk,  the  mast  only  being  visible  above  the  water.  Our 
squadron  stopped  fighting  at  2  o'clock  and  returned  to  the  rendezvous." 

The  official  reports  placed  the  Japanese  loss  at  nine  killed,  five  seri- 
ously wounded  and  seventeen  slightly  hurt.  The  Japanese  fleet  was- 
not  damaged  in  the  fighting. 

Viceroy  Alexieff 's  Report. 

The  following  is  the  Russian  Viceroy's  report  of  the  engagement : 
"Admiral    MakarofT,    commanding    the    fleet,    reported    from    Port 

Arthur  under  date  of  March  10  as  follows : 

"  'Six  torpedo  boats,  which  went  out  to  sea  the  night  of  March  10, 

four  of  them  being  under  the  command  of  Captain  Mattoussevitch,  en- 


THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR.  319 

countered  the  enemy's  torpedo  boats  followed  by  cruisers.  On  the  way 
back  the  torpedo-boat  destroyer  Stereguschtchi,  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant Sergueieff,  sustained  damages;  her  engine  was  disabled  and  she 
began  to  founder. 

"  'By  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  five  of  our  torpedo-boat  destroyers 
had  returned.  When  the  critical  position  of  the  Stereguschtchi  became 
evident  I  hoisted  my  flag  on  the  cruiser  Novik  and  went  with  the  Novik 
and  the  cruiser  Bayan  to  the  rescue.  But  as  five  of  the  enemy's  cruisers 
surrounded  our  destroyer,  and  as  their  battleship  squadron  was  ap- 
proaching, I  did  not  succeed  in  saving  the  Stereguschtchi,  which  found- 
ered.   Part  of  the  crew  was  made  prisoner  and  part  was  drowned. 

"  *On  the  ships  which  participated  in  the  night  attack  one  officer 
was  seriously  and  three  others  were  slightly  wounded,  two  soldiers  were 
killed,  and  eighteen  were  wounded.'  " 

Bottling  Up  the  Russian  Fleet. 

On  February  24,  the  Japanese  attempted  to  bottle  up  the  Russian 
fleet  in  Port  Arthur  by  sinking  stone-laden  vessels  at  the  entrance  to 
the  harbor,  employing  the  tactics  which  were  considered,  but  not  exe- 
cuted, by  Admiral  Sampson,  U.  S.  N.,  with  the  Merrimac,  at  Santiago, 
during  the  Spanish-American  war.  According  to  the  first  account 
Japanese  ships  appeared  off  the  harbor  with  a  Japanese  fleet  behind 
them  and  ostensibly  in  pursuit.  The  Russians,  however,  suspected  a 
ruse  and  their  ships  sank  the  stone-laden  vessels,  engaged  and  defeated 
the  enemy  and  drove  them  off. 

On  the  night  of  March  22  the  Japanese  fleet  renewed  the  attempt  to 
bottle  up  Port  Arthur.  Sixteen  warships  escorted  seven  merchant 
steamers  to  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  and  under  cover  of  the  bombard- 
ment the  steamers  ran  in  and  were  sunk.  Three  thousand  Japanese 
officers  and  blue  jackets  volunteered  for  this  duty.  During  the  day  the 
Japanese  fleet  had  made  its  fifth  attack  on  Port  Arthur. 

Japanese  Fleet  Unharmed. 

Vice  Admiral  Togo's  report  of  the  event  was  as  follows: 

"The  combined  fleet  acted  according  to  the  plan  arranged.     Two- 


320  THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 

flotillas  of  destroyers  were  outside  Port  Arthur,  as  instructed,  from  the 
night  of  the  21st  until  the  morning  of  the  22d.  Although  during  this 
time  our  destroyers  were  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  they  sustained 
no  damage.  The  main  fleet  arrived  off  Port  Arthur  at  8  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  22d. 

"I  dispatched  a  part  of  the  fleet  in  the  direction  of  Pigeon  Bay,  and 
ordered  the  battleships  Fuji  and  Yashima  to  make  an  indirect  bombard- 
ment against  the  inner  side  of  the  port.  During  the  bombardment  the 
enemy's  ships  gradually  came  out  of  the  harbor,  and  at  the  time  when 
the  indirect  bombardment  stopped,  which  was  about  2  o'clock,  tEe 
number  of  Russian  ships  was  five  battleships,  four  cruisers  and  several 
destroyers.  We  believed  the  enemy  was  trying,  by  making  a  move- 
ment of  the  fleet,  to  draw  us  near  the  forts.  The  enemy's  ships  shelled 
us  indirectly,  and  many  of  their  shots  fell  near  the  battleship  Fuji,  but 
our  ships  sustained  no  damage.  About  3  o'clock  our  vessels  withdrew 
off  the  port." 

Another  Daring  Attempt  Fails. 

Under  cover  of  darkness  on  the  morning  of  March  27,  Vice-Admiral 
Togo  made  another  desperate  attempt  to  bottle  up  the  Russian  fleet  in 
Port  Arthur,  but  failed  again,  and  when  after  daylight  Vice  Admiral 
Makaroff  steamed  out  to  give  battle  the  Japanese  commander  refused 
the  challenge  and  sailed  away. 

The  Japanese  practically  repeated  the  tactics  of  Feb.  24  by  sending 
in  four  fire  ships,  preceded  by  a  torpedo  boat  flotilla,  with  the  exception 
that  the  fire  ships  this  time  were  armed  with  Hotchkiss  guns  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  'off  the  Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyers. 

The  enemy's  attempt  was  discovered  by  means  of  the  shore  search- 
lights, and  a  heavy  fire  was  opened  from  the  batteries  and  from  two  gun- 
boats which  were  guarding  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  The  Russian 
-  torpedo  boat  destroyer  Silni  was  outside  on  scouting  duty,  and  to  the 
dash  and  nerve  of  her  commander,  Lieutenant  Krinizki,  is  chiefly  due 
the  complete  defeat  of  the  plans  of  the  Japanese. 


THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR.        321 

Under  Fierce  Fire. 

He  at  once  made  straight  for  the  oncoming  ships  under  a  hail  of  fire 
from  the  Hotchkiss  guns,  and  torpedoed  the  leading  ship,  which  sheered 
of¥,  followed  by  the  others,  three  of  them  being  piled  up  on  the  shore 
under  Golden  Hill  and  one  under  the  lighthouse.  The  Silni  then  en- 
gaged the  entire  six  torpedo  boats  of  the  enemy,  coming  out  from  a 
terrific  fight  with  seven  killed  and  her  commander  and  twelve  of  her 
complement  wounded,  but  on  the  Japanese  side  only  one  boat's  crew- 
was  saved. 

The  Japanese  cruisers  which  supported  the  attack  exchanged  shots 
with  the  batteries,  and  then  drew  off,  after  which  Vice  Admiral  Makaroff 
took  a  steam  launch  and  examined  the  fire  ships.  An  hour  later  the 
Japanese  torpedo  fiotilla,  followed  by  Vice  Admiral  Togo's  fleet,  came 
up  from  a  southerly  direction.  Just  at  daybreak  Vice  Admiral  Makaroff, 
with  his  fleet,  sailed  out  to  engage  the  enemy,  but  after  the  ships  and 
batteries  had  fired  a  few  long  distance  shots  Vice  Admiral  Togo  decided 
to  decline  the  issue  and  disappeared  to  the  southward. 

Joy  in  Russia. 

The  news  o^  the  repulse  of  Vice  Admiral  Togo's  attempt  to  block 
Port  Arthur  created  much  rejoicing  in  the  Russian  capital,  and  among 
all  classes  the  gallantry  of  the  Silni  and  her  commander  was  the  subject 
of  high  praise ;  but  above  all  the  moral  effect  of  Vice  Admiral  Makaroflf's 
willingness  to  engage  the  enemy,  showing  that  he  considered  himself 
strong  enough  to  fight,  produced  a  splendid  impression. 

Honors  to  a  Hero. 

The  Japanese  naval  hero  of  the  war,  in  the  popular  mind,  was  Com* 
mander  Takaso  Hirose^  who  lost  his  life  when  Admiral  Togo  made  the 
above  attempt  to  bottle  up  the  harbor  of  Port  Arthur.  The  Japanese 
greatly  appreciated  the  act  of  the  Russian  authorities  at  Port  Arthur 
in  giving  a  military  funeral  to  the  remains  of  an  unknown  officer  recov- 
ered by  them  after  that  attack^  but  which  from  the  description  of  the 
uniform  worn  was  considered  unquestionably  to  be  those  of  Hirose.    A 


2,22  THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 

fragment  of  his  body  was  found  by  the  Japanese  and  was  brought  to 
Tokio  where  it  was  given  a  pubHc  funeral  with  high  honors,  according 
to  the  Shinto  ceremonial  on  April  13. 

On  May  i,  Admiral  Togo  made  another  attempt  to  bottle  up  Port 
Arthur  by  sending  in  eight  fire  ships.  The  harbor  was,  for  the  time 
being,  sealed,  permitting  the  egress  of  only  the  smaller  torpedo  boats. 
This  temporary  sealing  of  the  channel,  however,  prevented  the  egress 
of  the  Russian  ships  and  enabled  the  Japanese  to  dispatch  a  number 
of  troop-laden  transports  without  fear  of  molestation.  The  parting 
between  the  Admiral  and  the  heroic  volunteers  for  the  venture  was 
most  affecting,  the  former  realizing  that  he  was  sending  his  men  tcr 
almost  certain  death. 

After  the  Battle. 

A  correspondent  who  visited  Port  Arthur  shortly  after  one  of  the 
bombardments  wrote  the  following  graphic  description  of  the  be- 
leaguered city: 

"Despite  the  various  assaults  the  external  aspect  of  Port  Arthur 
remains  unchanged,  although  the  enemy  fired  an  enormous  number  of 
projectiles.  The  marine  monsters  in  the  harbor  look  like  enermous 
black  hulls  and  the  battleships  and  cruisers  bear  marks  of  the  fighting. 
The  black  clouds  of  smoke  vomited  from  their  stacks  overhang  the 
town.    The  cruiser  Pallada  stands  almost  ready  in  the  dock. 

"Near  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  can  be  seen  the  charred  wrecks  ot 
the  Japanese  fire  ships.  Aboard  one  of  the  farthest  out  was  found  the 
body  of  a  Japanese  ofificer  who  had  shot  himself.  Beside  him  lay  a  chart 
showing  the  course  of  the  fire  ships  and  the  spot  where  they  sank. 

"Six  hours  of  firing  by  the  heaviest  guns  during  the  last  bombard- 
ment did  not  demolish  a  single  building,  but  cost  a  few  lives.  The  hus- 
band and  child  of  the  Baroness  Frank,  who  was  decapitated  by  fragments 
of  a  shell  flying  in  through  the  window,  were  unharmed. 

Fire  is  Ineffective. 

"The  enemy  in  endeavoring  to  stand  as  far  as  possible  outside  the 
range  of  the  Russian  batteries  rendered  their  own  fire  ineffective.    The 


THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR.        323 

people  are  getting  used  to  the  bombardments  and  the  Japanese  squadron 
cruising  in  the  offing  causes  little  alarm.  Occupations  are  resuming 
their  wonted  course  and  many  stores  have  been  reopened. 

"Not  a  few  women  heroically  refuse  to  leave  Port  Arthur,  regardless 
of  the  tragic  death  of  Baroness  Frank.  During  the  height  of  the  can- 
nonading one  woman,  armed  with  dressings  for  wounds,  wandered  the 
streets,  ready  to  afford  aid  to  the  wounded. 

"A  branch  of  the  Russo-Chinese  Bank  is  doing  business,  and  many 
wives  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  are  returning^as  Sisters  of  Mercy.  The 
land  defenses  are  being  strengthened  every  day,  and  the  troops  are  eager 
to  fight.    The  gayety  and  good  spirits  of  the  troops  are  surprising. 

Fighters  at  Close  Range. 

"During  the  engagement  between  the  Russian  and  the  Japanese 
torpedo  boat  destroyers  the  boats  came  into  very  close  quarters,  being 
within  only  a  few  fathoms'  length  of  each  other.  A  torpedo  from  the 
Russian  destroyer  Vlastini  tore  ofif  the  stern  of  one  of  the  enemy's 
destroyers,  her  captain  standing  on  the  bridge  as  she  sank  amid  wild 
cries. 

"Port  Arthur  is  exceedingly  gloomy  at  night,  all  lights  being  out. 
Pickets  patrol  the  street,  stopping  all  pedestrians.  Three  Chunchuses 
(Chinese  bandits)  a  few  days  ago  attacked  a  house  in  the  center  of  the 
town.  The  master  of  the  house  killed  two  of  the  Chunchuses,  and  a 
third  was  killed  by  the  officers." 

Thrilling  Description  by  an  Eye- Witness. 

A  Russian  officer  commanding  a  battery  on  Electric  Hill  during  a 
bombardment  of  Port  Arthur,  contributed  the  following  vivid  account: 

"It  was  a  clear  sunlit  day  and  there  was  a  gentle  swell  on  the  water. 
A  little  spot  appeared  through  the  haze  on  the  far  horizon  and  then 
another  and  another,  until  these  spots  were  increased  to  fifteen.  Nearer 
and  nearer  they  came,  and  larger  and  larger  they  appeared,  until,  when 
six  miles  off,  there  was  a  tiny  puff  of  smoke,  and  all  in  the  battery 
wondered  where  the  projectile  was  going  to  fall. 


324       ■  THE  ATTACKS  ON  PORT  ARTHUR. 

"Forty  fathoms  below  the  cHlff  where  we  were  lay  the  battleship 
Peresviet.  Bang!  A  shell  burst  under  her  bows,  splashing  the  decks 
with  spray.  There  was  another  puff  and  a  projectile  whistled  overhead, 
crashing  on  the  rock  behind  us.  Then  came  a  third.  It  was  a  moment 
of  terrible  suspense.  There  was  a  terrific  explosion  overhead.  They 
had  got  our  range  exactly. 

"It  was  the  signal  for  us  to  open  fire,  and  ten  batteries  and  twelve 
warships  joined  in  the  reply.  What  followed  is  almost  indescribable. 
The  sea  underneath  where  we  stood  fairly  boiled  with  the  swish  and 
plunge  of  projectiles,  and  words  of  command  were  inaudible  to  the  gun- 
ners. I  tried  vainly  to  shout  my  orders  while  150  guns  were  belching 
in  a  prolonged  roar  and  shells  were  bursting  overhead  with  a  hellish 
crash.    The  smoke  and  dust  blinded  us. 

No  Death  Terrors. 

"I  did  not  experience  excitement,  and  only  that  my  tooth  began  to 
ache,  there  was  a  strange  sensation  of  contentment  amidst  the  scenes 
of  death,  which  had  no  terrors  after  the  first  shell  had  exploded.  Sud- 
denly a  white-faced  gunner  pointed  to  a  battery  of  quick-firing  guns 
half-way  down  the  hill,  which  had  been  placed  there  to  prevent  a  Japan- 
ese landing.  I  ran  down  and  found  the  scene  one  of  the  wildest.  There 
was  a  battle  orgy  of  bursting  shells  and  whistling  fragments,  the  smoke 
stench  reeking  the  earth. 

"One  shell  had  burst  among  the  gunners.  A  soldier  was  lying  disem- 
boweled and  another  had  his  skull  crushed.  A  third  soldier  was  deliri- 
ous, and  there  were  splinters  in  his  head.  One  gun  had  been  broken 
like  a  reed.    It  was  a  dreadful  sight,  with  blood  everywhere. 

"After  the  battle  was  over  Lieutenant  General  Stoessel,  commander 
at  Port  Arthur,  pinned  the  cross  of  St.  George  on  my  breast.  But  what 
does  it  matter — I  am  in  the  hospital." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK 

Tke  Assassin  of  the  Sea — A  Five  Million  Dollar  Boat  and  Eight  Hundred  Men  Lost — 
Miraculous  Escape  of  Grand  Duke  Cyril — ^Description  of  the  Petropavlovsk — Admiral 
Makaroff — How  a  Submarine  i'ights — Enticed  into  a  Trap — An  Eye  Witness  Describes 
the  Disaster — Bussian  Torpedo  Boats  Sink  a  Japanese  Transport — Loss  of  the  Yos- 
hino  and  Hatsuse. 

ON  THE  morning  of  April  13,  a  few  Japanese  were  seen  approach- 
ing Port  Arthur.  Seeing  that  he  did  not  have  a  superior  force  to 
engage,  Admiral  Makaroff  signaled  all  the  ships  of  his  fleet  to  follow 
him  to  sea  and  went  out  to  do  battle.  Before  the  Japanese  fleet  was 
reached,  re-enforceraents  for  Admiral  Togo  appeared  on  the  horizon, 
swelling  the  attacking  force  to  thirty  ships,  big  and  little.  There  was 
no  chance  for  the  Russian  fleet  to  win  against  such  odds,  and  Makaroff 
signaled  a  retreat. 

No  Chance  to  Escape. 

The  squadron  was  entering  the  roadstead  when  the  Petropavlovsk 
either  touched  a  mine  or  was  struck  by  a  torpedo  shot  from  a  submarine 
boat.  A  huge  hole  was  blown  in  the  starboard  side  of  the  ship,  near  the 
middle,  and  she  immediately  turned  turtle  and  sank  bottom  up  in  a  few 
minutes.  The  crew  was  at  the  fighting  stations,  and  the  Russians, 
penned  up  below  the  decks  and  in  the  turrets,  had  no  chance  to  escape, 
for  the  disaster  was  over  in  a  minute. 

Immediately  after  the  explosion  the  sailors  were  signaled  to  flood 
some  of  the  compartments  on  the  port  side,  to  throw  the  ship  on  an 
even  keel,  but  they  had  no  time  even  to  begin  this  work.  It  is  believed 
that  Admiral  Makaroff  was  in  the  conning  tower,  from  which  there 
was  no  chance  of  escape.  With  the  Grand  Duke  Cyril  on  the  bridge 
of  the  ship,  were  Captain  N.  Jakovleff  and  two  other  officers,  and  all 

325 


326  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

were  saved.  It  was  claimed  by  many  that  a  submarine  torpedo  boat 
struck  the  blow  that  sank  the  Russian  flagship,  that  unseen  and  unsus- 
pected, the  "assassin  of  the  sea"  crept  up  under  the  ironclad  and  stabbed 
it  in  its  vitals.  In  two  and  one-half  minutes  a  $5,000,000  armored 
vessel,  the  most  powerful  sea-fighter  in  the  Czar's  navy,  lay  in  scrap- 
iron  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  with  the  commander-in-chief  and  his  staflf 
and  800  men  wiped  out. 

New  Art  of  Marine  Warfare. 

In  every  possible  way  Japan  guarded  the  secret  of  her  new  naval 
weapon  and  Admiral  Togo,  in  his  report  of  the  engagement,  was  careful 
to  explain  that  the  battleship  struck  a  Japanese  mine  which  had  been 
planted  during  the  previous  evening.  It  was  known,  however,  that 
three  years  ago  the  Japanese  bought  plans  for  submarine  torpedo  boats 
from  an  American  firm.  Inside  a  walled  enclosure  near  Sasebo  the 
Japanese  built  and  tested  three  submarines  similar  in  design  to  the 
United  States  submarine  Fulton.  Newspaper  correspondents  were  for- 
bidden to  follow  the  fleet,  and  the  usual  courtesy  of  welcoming  naval 
officers  of  neutral  nations  as  guests  on  board  the  ships  was  declined  by 
Japan. 

According  to  a ,  well  known  authority,  Japan,  the  youngest  of  all 
naval  powers,  achieved  the  distinction  of  making  a  practical  demonstra- 
tion of  the  new  art  of  marine  warfare  before  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
Heretofore  the  submarine  had  been  a  theoretical  weapon;  Japan  proved 
its  effectiveness.  A  moment's  study  of  the  disaster  to  the  Petropavlovsk 
settles  beyond  question  the  fact  that  great  fighting  ships  are  helpless 
and  worthless  in  the  presence  of  this  new  and  overwhelming  weapon 
of  war. 

Hidden  under  thirty  feet  of  water,  the  Japanese  submarine  crept 
-up  to  the  Russian  ironclad  and  detonated  two  hundred  pounds  of  gun- 
cotton  squarely  under  the  engine  rooms  of  the  Petropavlovsk.  The 
explosion  of  the  torpedo  tore  through  the  armored  underside,  letting  a 
ilood  of  cold  sea  water  in  upon  the  red-hot  boilers.  Instantly  the  boilers 
burst,  splitting  the  battleship  into  halves.    A  vast  column  of  steam  and 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  327 

water  shot  two  hundred  feet  into  the  air,  and  through  this  rose  even 
higher  the  whirling  fragments  of  boilers,  engines,  guns  and  crew  from 
the  gutted  midship  section  of  the  vessel. 

A  Miraculous  Escape. 

A  tongue  of  flame  swept  aft  through  the  ship  and  penetrated  the 
powder  magazine  under  the  rear  gun  turret.  As  the  after  half  of  the 
flagship  settled  in  the  water  this  magazine  exploded,  splitting  ofT  the 
ship's  stern  and  tearing  into  fragments  the  commanding  ofiicer's  cabin, 
where  sat  Admiral  Makaroff,  with  his  staff  assembled  about  him  in 
counsel. 

A  moment  later  the  forward  half  of  the  battleship  had  sunk.  But  a 
-muffied  roar,  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  €team  and  a  seething  mass  of  bub- 
bling suds  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  made  it  plain  that  one  of  the  forward 
powder  magazines  had  feebly  exploded  in  the  sunken  wreck. 

By  a  miracle,  Grand  Duke  Cyril,  the  heir  to  the  Russian  throne, 
escaped.  Standing  on  the  captain's  bridge  with  his  back  to  the  heavily 
armored  conning  tower,  he  was  partly  sheltered  from  the  explosion 
of  the  boiler  behind  him.  The  concussion  threw  him  off  his  feet,  and  as 
the  ship  heeled  over  to  port  the  Grand  Duke  rolled  to  the  edge  of  the 
bridge  and  over,  falling  to  the  deck  below.  Before  he  could  regain  his 
feet  the  gun-deck,  on  which  he  had  tumbled,  was  awash  as  the  ship 
-careened  still  further  to  port.  At  this  instant  the  turret  magazine  in 
the  severed  after-half  of  the  ship  blew  up,  and  the  resultant  towering 
wave  which  swept  in  every  direction  picked  up  Cyril  and  bore  him  a 
hundred  feet  away  from  the  wreck.  On  the  crest  of  this  same  wave 
traveled  a  broken  portion  of  the  Admiral's  steam  launch,  which  had 
been  torn  from  the  davits.  Fortunately  this  proved  to  be  the  bow 
section  of  the  launch,  which  is  an  air-tight  compartment — a  veritable  life 
preserver.    To  this  the  Grand  Duke  Cyril  clung  until  he  was  saved. 

Nobody  will  even  know  exactly  how  many  were  lost  on  the  flagship. 
Of  something  more  than  850  souls  only  51  officers  and  men  escaped. 
Most  of  the  men  were  at  their  stations  throughout  the  ship,  and  were 
stunned  by  the  explosions  and  drowned  a  moment  later.    Two  minutes 


328  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

and  a  half  after  the  gunpotton  torpedo  blew  the  bottom  out  of  the  boiler 
rooms  the  ship  had  disappeared  in  the  sea. 

Battleship  at  Mercy  of  Submarine. 

The  modern  battleship,  heavily  armored  against  shells  and  solid 
shot,  and  equipped  with  chain  nets  to  keep  off  surface  torpedoes,  has  no 
protection  against  a  submarine  boat. 

Indeed,  in  a  fight  between  an  ii,ooo  ton  battleship  costing  over  five 
millions  of  dollars  and  carrying  a  fighting  force  of  850  men  and  a  tiny, 
fragile  submarine  boat  of  75  tons,  with  a  complement  of  only  five  men, 
the  battleship  is  completely  at  the  mervy  of  its  diminutive  opponent. 
The  cruel,  pitiless  inequality  of  such  an  encounter  is,  to  say  the  very 
least,  marvellous,  especially  when  the  frightful,  appalling  and  almost 
inevitable  result  is  taken  into  consideration. 

The  Petropavlovsk  cost  34  times  as  much,  weighed  147  times  as 
much  and  carried  170  times  as  many  men  as  the  Japanese  water  rat. 
And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  its  apparent  disadvantages,  the  submarine  craft 
had  the  big  Russian  l^attleship  at  its  mercy  from  the  moment  the  Petra- 
pavlovsk  emerged  from  the  harbor  at  Port  Arthur,  enticed  on,  in  fact, 
by  the  other  Japanese  war  vessels,  which  were  merely  the  bait  used  for 
(drawing  the  enemy  into  the  submarine  trap. 

Disemboweled  the  Ship. 

The  first  official  explanation — that  the  battleship  was  accidentally 
sunk  by  collision  with  one  of  the  mines  planted  in  the  channel  by  the 
Russians  themselves — did  not  survive  the  first  wave  of  horror  caused 
by  the  disaster.  Just  as  soon  as  the  exact  nature  and  extent  of  the  ex- 
plosion were  made  known  naval  experts  declared  that  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  have  disemboweled  the  ship  with  a  contact  mine. 
They  said  a  submarine  torpedo  boat  must  have  attacked  the  Petropav- 
lovsk, creeping  up  close  to  the  enemy  and  accurately  dischargping  a 
Whitehead  torpedo  against  the  ship's  most  vital  part. 

The  first  official  Russian  verification  of  this  belief  came  from  the 
Grand  Duke  Vladimir  at  St.  Petersburg  two  days  after  the  loss  of  the 
battleship.    He  said: 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  329 

"We  knew  that  the  Japanese  had  two  submarines,  but  we  did  not 
suppose  them  rash  enough  to  send  submarines  such  a  distance  from  the 
fleet  or  allow  them  to  venture  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  the  channel  of 
Port  Arthur.     The  submarine  which  did  so  must  certainly  have  sunk." 

Since  then  it  has  been  very  positively  stated  by  an  American  naval 
officer,  whose  name,  for  diplomatic  and  other  reasons,  has  not  been 
divulged,  that  Japan  had  four  submarine  torpedo  boats  of  the  Holland 
type  when  the  war  broke  out.  One  of  these  he  actually  saw  in  course 
of  construction  in  a  shipbuilding  enclosure  near  Sasebo.  The  other 
three  were  completed  and  in  commission  ready  for  active  service. 

Boat  Reduced  to  Scrap  Iron. 

Admiral  Togo  claimed  for  his  squadron  the  credit  of.  sinking  the 
battleship  by  counter-mining,  leaving  it  for  the  Russians  to  confirm  the 
belief  that  Japan  was  using  subrnarines. 

It  may  seem  almost  incredible  that  a  powerful  first-class  battleship 
on  which  five  millions  of  dollars  had  been  expended  could  be  over- 
powered by  a  comparatively  insignificant  antagonist.  The  fate  of  the 
Petropavlovsk,  however,  furnished  the  navies  of  the  whole  world  with  a 
striking  proof  of  the  futility  of  matching  armor-plated  monsters  against 
the  newest  and  most  deadly  of  all  fighting  craft — the  submerged  tor- 
pedo boat,  which  can  approach  unseen  and  strike  unawares  wherever  it 
pleases  and  at  the  most  unexpected  moment. 

Although  the  Petropavlovsk  was  launched  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1894, 
ten  years  ago,  she  was  not  put  into  commission  until  1898.  The  inter- 
vening four  years  were  spent  in  testing  various  types  of  guns  for  her, 
improving  her  armament  generally  and  fitting  her  with  the  most  com- 
plete coat  of  armor  plate  that  could  be  turned  out. 

Resembled  the  Indiana. 

The  Petropavlovsk  was  constructed  at  the  New  Admiralty  Yard  at 
St.  Petersburg.  She  had  a  displacement  of  11,500  tons,  and  was 
equipped  with  English  engines  of  11,600  horse-power.  She  was  367 
feet  long  and  had  a  beam  of  69  feet.  In  size  and  general  appearance 
she  resembled  somewhat  the  American  battleship  Indiana. 


330  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

She  was  provided  with  an  armored  belt  over  fifteen  inches  in  thick- 
ness, and  a  protective  deck  three  and  a  half  inches  thick.  Her  two  prin- 
cipal turrets  were  covered  with  ten-inch  Harveyized  steel  plating,  her 
four  secondary  turrets  and  her  casemates  being  of  three-inch  armor. 

Her  armament  was  very  formidable,  consisting  of  four  12-inch  can- 
non mounted  in  pairs,  fore  and  abaft  her  upperstructure,  and  twelve  5.9- 
inch  quick-firing  guns,  eight  of  which  were  placed  in  pairs  in  her  second- 
ary turrets,  the  remaining  four  being  in  casemates  recessed  on  her  main 
deck  amidships.  Besides  all  these,  she  carried  no  fewer  than  thirty- 
€ight  small  rapid-fire  and  machine  guns,  in  addition  to  six  torpedo  tubes. 
On  her  trial  trip,  under  natural  draught,  she  realized  a  speed  of  over 
seventeen  knots  an  hour  during  a  twelve-hour  run. 

Immediately  upon  hearing  of  the  disaster  to  the  Petropavlovsk,  the 
Czar  appointed  Vice-Admiral  Skrydloflf,  known  as  the  "Bulldog  of  the 
Russian  Navy,"  to  the  command  of  the  Port  Arthur  squadron. 

A  Strange  Fatality. 

Admiral  Makarofif's  death  was  really  a  greater  loss  than  would  be 
that  of  several  battleships.  He  was  the  pride  of  the  navy  and  enjoyed 
the  implicit  confidence  of  his  sovereign  as  well  as  of  the  officers  and 
men  of  the  service.  Speaking  of  his  death  naval  officers  remarked  upon 
the  strange  fatality  that  he  should  lose  his  life  on  a  heavily  armored 
battleship,  to  which  he  had  a  particular  aversion.  The  morning  of  his 
death  he  raised  his  flag  for  the  first  time  on  a  battleship.  Previously  he 
had  gone  out  on  board  the  cruiser  Novik  or  the  cruiser  Askold.  It  was 
at  the  urgent  request  of  his  friends  that  he  did  not  risk  his  li,fe  in  this 
fashion  and  transferred  his  flag  to  the  Petropavlovsk. 

It  was  an  open  secret  that  Admiral  Makaroflf  was  not  anxious  to 
resign  his  commond  of  Cronstadt  to  go  to  the  far  East,  this  necessitat- 
ing his  leaving  his  wife  and  family,  but  the  emperor  held  such  a  high 
opinion  of  him  that  he  declined  to  consider  other  candidates,  although 
it  was  pointed  out  that  Rear  Admiral  Rojestvensky,  chief  of  the  general 
staflf  of  the  navy,  who  was  appointed  to  command  the  Baltic  squadron, 
ns  well  as  others,  were  anxious  to  distinguish  themselves. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  331 

Forced  to  Command. 

The  emperor  in  his  summons  to  Admiral  Makaroff  said : 
^'My  choice  has  fallen  upon  you  and  I  will  not  take  a  refusal." 
So  the  admiral  went  to  the  far  East.     The  emperor's  sorrow  was 
doubly  keen  on  this  account.     By  imperial  command  a  requiem  service 
was  celebrated  at  the  admiralty  church  in  St.  Petersburg  for  the  em- 
peror's favorite  admiral. 

The  grief-stricken  widow,  according  to  the  Russian  custom,  had  a 
requiem  service  celebrated  at  her  residence.  She  had  been  much  wor- 
ried over  the  health  of  her  husband,  who  suffered  from  diabetes,  refer- 
ence to  which  was  made  in  a  telegram  from  the  admiral,  in  which  he 
said  he  was  compelled  to  disobey  orders  as  to  taking  regular  sleep. 

The  admiral's  death  was  also  mourned  by  his  daughter  Lillie,  a  beau- 
tiful girl  of  19,  who  was  the  belle  of  Cronstadt.  Both  mother  and  daugh- 
ter attended  the  requiem  service  at  the  admiralty  church. 

The  coincidence  was  generally  commented  upon  that  the  ice  breaker 
Ermak,  one  of  Admiral  Makaroff's  greatest  triumphs,  steamed  majestic- 
ally up  the  Neva  on  the  day  the  Petropavlovsk  went  down,  having  cut 
through  the  ice  from  Cronstadt,  her  enormous  black  hull  dwarfing  the 
war  ships  moored  alongside. 

Anxious  to  Win  His  Spurs. 

There  is  a  romantic  story  connected  with  Grand  Duke  Cyril's  anxiety 
to  go  to  the  front.  He  wanted  to  win  his  spurs  and  then  marry  the 
woman  with  whom  he  is  very  much  in  love.  The  match  was  opposed 
by  his  parents.  It  was  an  open  secret  that  the  grand  duke's  lady  love 
was  his  cousin,  the  divorced  wife  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse  and 
^Jaughter  of  the  late  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg  and  Gotha,  who  married  a 
sister  of  Alexander  III. 

How  the  Deadly  Submarine  Fights. 

The  average  type  of  the  submarine  boat  is  a  steel  shell  fifty-four  feet 
long,  and  pointed  at  the  ends,  and  ten  and  a  half  feet  wide.  Within 
ihe  comparatively  small  space  inside  is  stowed  away  twenty  tons  of 


332  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

machinery  and  fittings.  This  apparatus  consists  of  a  fifty-horse  power 
gasoHne  engine,  which  runs  the  propeller  when  the  boat  is  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  water.  The  engine  also  charges  the  storage  batteries  with 
electricity.  This  electrical  power  is  drawn  upon  to  propel  the  boat  be- 
low the  water's  surface  when  the  gasoline  engine  could  not  be  operated^ 
as  it  would  vitiate  the  air  inside  the  vessel. 

In  the  bow  of  the  boat  are  her  means  of  offensive  warfare.  The 
most  important  is  a  torpedo  tube  pointing  straight  ahead  on  a  line  with 
her  keel.  This  is  for  discharging  torpedoes  under  water  at  hostile  ships. 
There  is  another  torpedo  tube  in  the  bow  pointing  upward  at  an  angle 
of  about  twenty  degrees,  which  is  used  for  firing  aerial  torpedoes. 
Through  this  tube  torpedoes  can  be  hurled  through  the  air  for  a  dis- 
tance of  one  mile  or  more,  and  it  is  useful  when  the  vessel  takes  part 
in  a  concerted  attack  upon  a  battleship  or  fortification. 

Can  See  Without  Being  Seen. 

The  boat  is  made  to  dive  under  the  surface  by  opening  the  air  cham- 
bers in  the  lower  part  of  the  hull  and  filling  them  with  water,  and  at 
the  same  time  directing  the  vessel's  course  downward  by  means  af  hori- 
zontal rudders,  or  planes,  on  either  side.  Nine  tons  of  water  are  suffi- 
cient to  sink  the  boat  to  a  depth  of  five  feet  below_  the  surface.  Still 
more  water  ballast  can  be  taken  in  to  cause  her  to  sink  to  the  depth  of 
140  feet.  When  the  torpedo  boat's  commander  wishes  to  come  to  the 
surface  again  he  simply  gives  an  order,  a  valve  is  turned  and  the  water 
is  forced  out  of  the  ballast  tanks,  leaving  a  vacuum  which  quickly 
changes  the  specific  gravity  of  the  submarine,  making  it  lighter  than  the 
water  and  causing  it  to  rise. 

The  boat  is  capable  of  making  a  speed  of  ten  knots  an  hour  when 
sailing  "awash."  That  means  with  all  but  the  boat's  conning  tower 
under  water.  When  the  conning  tower,  too,  is  submerged,  and  the  boat 
settles  to  a  depth  of  about  thirty  feet  below  the  level  of  the  water,  she  is 
still  capable  of  maintaining  a  speed  of  six  or  eight  knots  an  hour. 

The  tremendous  advantage  the  submarine  has  over  all  other  kinds 
of  fighting  ships  is  that  it  can  always  see  v/ithont  being  seen.    The  sub- 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  333 

marine  can  sink  completely  out  of  sight  and  in  that  way  either  creep  up 
until  it  is  within  striking  distance,  or  wait  for  the  enemy's  approach. 

There  is  no  *'chug-chug"  of  the  engines  to  warn  the  enemy,  because 
when  submerged  the  torpedo  boat  derives  its  propelling  power  from 
storage  batteries. 

Nothing  is  visible  above  the  surface  of  the  water  but  a  slender 
tube  which  rises  to  a  height  of  one  or  two  feet.  This  tube  contains  a 
powerful  omniscope,  or  "eye,"  which  enables  the  submarine  commander 
to  see  a  perfect  reflection  of  the  whole  surface  of  the  water  for  miles 
around,  just  as  plainly  as  if  he  stood  a  raft  and  scanned  the  horizon 
through  a  telescope. 

Watching  Its  Prey  from  Beneath  the  Waves. 

In  a  series  of  tests  to  determine  what  danger  the  submarine  ran  of 
being  detected  by  an  enemy,  it  was  proved  that  in  a  calm  sea  the  tiny 
gray  speck  of  the  submarine's  conning  tower  cannot  be  seen,  even 
through  the  most  powerful  marine  glasses,  more  than  a  mile.  In  a  rough 
sea,  the  conning  tower  will  hardly  be  visible  at  more  than  a  few  hundred 
yards.  The  danger  of  the  submarine  being  hit  by  an  enemy's  guns  is 
very  small,  as  the  conning  tower  is  only  two  feet  six  inches  in  diameter. 
It  is  protected  by  four-inch  plates,  capable  of  resisting  the  impact  of  four- 
inch  projectiles. 

And  when  the  submarine  boat  was  totally  submerged — that  is,  with 
nothing  but  the  tip 'of  the  omniscope  projecting  above  the  waves,  it  was 
impossible  to  "pick  out"  the  boat  until  it  was  within  two  hundred  yards 
of  the  supposed  enemy. 

From  this  it  will  be  understood  how  easy  it  was  for  the  Japanese 
submarines  to  creep  unobserved  right  up  to  the  entrance  to  the  Port 
Arthur  channel  and  Jie  in  wait  for  their  prey  there.  Not  only  was  Ad- 
miral Makaroff  unaware  of  their  presence;  he  probably  ha"d  only  a 
vague  suspicion  of  their  existence.  In  any  event,  he  had  no  reason  to 
suspect  that  even  the  daring  Japanese  would  send  a  submarine  out  miles 
beyond  the  protection  of  their  own  war  ships  and  give  battle — a  pigmy 
against  one  of  the  most  powerful  battleships  afloat. 


334  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

But  this  is  what  probably  happened.  The  submarine  which'  sank  the" 
Petropavlovsk  waited  submerged  just  outside  of  Port  Arthur.  A  few 
of  Admiral  Togo's  ships  made  a  demonstration  which  plainly  meant : 
"Come  out  and  fight."  The  Russian  admiral  accepted  the  challenge  and 
stepped  right  into  the  trap  set  for  him  with  devilish  ingenuity  by  the 
wily  Japs. 

Petropavlovsk  Enticed  Into  a  Trap. 

We  have  already  told  of  the  frightful  consequences  of  that  fatal 
step.  The  Petropavlovsk  was  singled  out  by  the  hidden  submarine  as 
its  intended  victim.  Silently  and  swiftly  it  approached  the  enormous 
battleship  which  was  then  on  its  way  back  to  the  harbor  after  ascer- 
taining the  overwhelming  strength  of  the  enemy. 

Still  unobserved,  the  Japanese  submarine  drew  nearer  until  it  was- 
well  within  striking  distance.  Then  a  Whitehead  torpedo  was  discharged 
at  the  Petropavlovsk,  which  staggered  and  sank  beneath  the  series  o£ 
external  and  internal  explosions  that  followed. 

Four  Years  Consumed  in  Building  the  Petropavlovsk. 

About  two  years  are  required  to  build  and  complete  a  battleship.  In 
the  case  of  the  Petropavlovsk,  almost  four  years  were  consumed  in 
building,  and  even  after  she  was  launched  another  four  years  was  spent 
in  experimenting  with  her  guns,  engines,  armor  plate  and  fighting  tops^ 
before  she  was  considered  ready  for  active  service.  During  all  this  time 
an  average  of  one  hundred  men  were  employed  daily  in  the  ship's  con- 
struction, either  in  the  Admiralty  yard  or  in  the  arsenal  or  government 
armor-plate  works,  where  much  of  the  material  was  turned  out.  This 
accounted  for  almost  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars  in  wages. 

The  Petropavlovsk  had  a  displacement  of  eleven  thousand  tons, 
represented  for  the  most  part  by  iron  and  steel.  This,  with  other  item* 
of  construction,  such  as  timber  and  glass,  accounted  for  $950,000  more. 
Another  enormous  item  of  expense  was  the  armament,  on  which  it  has 
been  estimated  that  a  round  million  dollars  was  spent. 

The  ship's  powerful  engines  cost  fully  $450,000  to  build,  and  in  con- 
nection with  these  must  be  considered  the  electric  hoists,  steering  ap- 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  33s 

paratus,  heating  and  lighting  apparatus  and  all  the  other  modern  ap- 
pliances and  contrivances  which  contribute  to  the  completion  of  the 
modern  fighting  ship.  Then  there  were  interior  and  exterior  fittings 
which  cost  a  large  fortune  in  themselves,  and  a  list  of  miscellaneous 
necessary  appliances  for  working  the  ship,  which  ran  the  total  cost  to  the 
five-million-dollar  mark. 

Launching  the  Battleship. 

A  curious  ceremony  marked  the  launching  of  the  Petropavlovsk.  The 
battleship  was  christened,  blessed  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the 
Czar  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church — a  procedure 
in  striking  contract  with  that  which  attends  the  launching  of  an  Ameri- 
can or  English  warship. 

An  altar  with  shining  golden  candelabra  and  a  generous  silver  font 
of  holy  water  was  arranged  under  the  battleship's  prow,  and  when  the 
hour  for  the  launching  ceremony  drew  near  a  score  of  bronzed  sailors 
assembled  under  the  starboard  side  of  the  bow  and  opened  little  black 
hymn  books  as  they  prepared  to  chant  the  prescribed  anthems.  Down 
on  the  ground  hundreds  of  other  sailors  drew  up  in  line  as  a  guard  of 
honor.  Six  bishops  and  priests,  wearing  their  flowing  vestments,  led 
the  procession  of  lesser  dignitaries,  officials  of  the  Russian  government 
and  invited  guests. 

How  the  Battleship  Was  Christened. 

As  soon  as  the  priests  reached  the  platform  erected  under  the  Pe- 
tropavlovsk's  prow  they  took  their  places  at  the  altar  and  the  cere- 
monies commenced.  The  opening  prayer  was  listened  to  by  all  with 
uncovered  heads,  and  then  the  sailor  choir  chanted  the  first  hymn  of  the 
christening  service.  A  choral  mass  followed,  during  which  the  ship 
and  name  were  made  one,  and  were  dedicated  to  the  Czar's  service. 

As  they  concluded  the  mass  .the  celebrants  blessed  the  battleship 
thrice,  standing  directly  under  the  powerful-looking  ram.  Then  they 
held  aloft  the  golden  crucifix  which  the  bishops,  priests  and  officials  rev- 
erently kissed.  Then  200  brawny  men  drove  home  the  wedges  and  split 
the  keel  blocks  out.     The  beams  that  had  shored  up  the  ship  in  her 


2,z6       '     DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

cradle  were  knocked  loose  anetthen  the  men  stood  waiting  for  the  sig- 
nal to  cut  away  the  "shoe"  pieces,  or  last  restraining  timbers. 

One  of  the  bishops  advanced  with  a  large  crucifix  and  a  Russian 
naval  officer  with  a  golden  sword.  Side  by  side  they  stood  against  the 
prow  and  waited  while  a  final  benediction  was  pronounced.  Then,  as 
the  crucifix  and  sword  touched  the  prow  together  the  workmen  tore 
out  the  last  remaining  "shoe"  pieces,  and  the  Petropavlovsk  was  launched 
upon  a  career  which  ended  so  disastrously  just  outside  of  the  harbor  at 
Port  Arthur. 

The  following  graphic  description  of  the  loss  of  the  Petropavlovsk 
is  from  the  pen  of  a  war  correspondent  who  witnessed  the  disaster : 

"Tuesday,  April  12,  Vice  Admiral  Makarofif  took  to  sea  with  his 
entire  squadron,  including  fourteen  torpedo  boats.  The  next  night, 
April  13,  in  the  teeth  of  a  gale,  eight  torpedo  boats  were  sent  out  to 
reconnoiter.  From  Golden  Hill,  on  which  I  was  standing,  through  the 
blackness  the  searchlight  of  the  fortifications  flashed  over  the  inky 
waters  of  the  roadstead  and  far  out  to  the  hazy  horizon. 

Hears  Firing  at  Sea. 

"At  II  o'clock  I  heard  firing  at  sea  and  counted  seven  shots,  but 
could  see  nothing.  At  daybreak  I  made  out  through  the  light  haze  to 
the  southward,  about  five  .miles  from  shore,  six  torpedo  boats  strung 
out  in  line,  all  firing.  In  the  lead  and  outstripping  the  others  was  a 
boat  heading  at  full  speed  directly  for  the  entrance  of  the  harbor.  The 
last  in  line  was  beclouded  in  steam  and  lagging.  She  evidently  had  been 
hit.  It  was  difficult  to  distinguish  our  boats,  but  finally  through  my 
glasses  I  saw  that  the  leader  and  the  laggard  were  Russian  and  that  the 
other  four  were  Japanese. 

"The  flash  of  the  guns  and  the  splash  of  the  projectiles  as  they 
struck  the  water  showed  the  intensity  of  the  conflict.  The  torpedo  boat 
from  which  steam  was  escaping  was  firing  viciously.  The  four  center 
craft  drew  together,  concentrating  their  fire  upon  her,  but  the  crippled 
destroyer  poured  out  her  fire  and  was  successfully  keeping  off  her  as- 
sailants 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  337 

News  Is  Flashed. 

"The  signal  station  flashed  the  news  to  the  man  of  the  batteries  that 
the  vessel  was  the  Strashni.  The  unequal  combat  was  observed  with 
breathless  interest,  but  the  net  drew  close  around  the  doomed  boat. 
The  four  Japanese  vessels  formed  a  semi-circle  and  poured  in  a  deadly 
iire.  The  steam  from  the  Strashni  grew  denser,  covering  her  like  a  white 
pall.  Still  she  fought  like  a  desperately  wounded  animal  brought  to 
bay.  Running  straight  for  the  adversary  barring  her  way  to  safety,  she 
passed  the  Japanese  astern  and  fired  at  them. 

"At  this  stage  Vice  Admiral  MakarofiE,  who  had  been  observing  the 

progress   of  the  conflict  through  a  telescope,   signaled   to   the   cruiser 

Bayan,  lying  in  the  inner  harbor,  to  weigh  anchor  and  go  out  to  the 

rescue. 

Cling  to  Their  Victim. 

"The  Japanese  destroyers  clung  to  their  victim  like  hounds  in  a 
chase.  They  had  become  separated,  but  again  resumed  their  formation. 
Small  jets  of  flame  and  smoke  were  spurting  from  the  light  rapid-firers, 
varied  by  denser  clouds  as  torpedoes  were  discharged  against  the 
Strashni. 

"It  was  the  end.  The  stricken  boat  loosed  a  final  round,  'but  it  was 
as  if  a  volley  had  been  fired  over  her  orwn  grave,  for  she  disappeared 
beneath  the  waves,  only  a  little  cloud  of  steam  marking  the  place  where 
she  went  down. 

"Scitisfied  with  what  they  had  accomplished,  the  Japanese  torpedo 
boats  turned  and  made  off  at  full  speed,  followed  by  the  Bayan.  To 
their  support  came  six  of  the  enemy's  cruisers.  Still  the  Bayan  went 
on,  seemingly  inviting  certain  destruction.  She  soon  ported  her  helm 
to  bring  a  broadside  to  bear  upon  the  foe,  which  was  advancing  in  line 
of  battle.  She  opened  fire  on  some  of  them  and  turned  quickly  and  stood 
on  into  the  hail  of  the  enemy's  broadsides.  The  Japanese  steamed  at  a 
slight  angle,  enabling  all  their  guns  to  bear,  and  projectiles  rained 
around  the  Bayan,  raising  columns  of  water  as  they  burst,  but  none 
struck  home. 


338  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

Torpedo  Boats  Appear. 

"To  the  eastward  suddenly  appeared  five  more  of  our  torpedo  boats^ 
returning  to  the  harbor  under  forced  draught.  Two  of  the  Japanese 
cruisers  were  immediately  detached  to  cut  them  ofif,  but  the  Bayan, 
noticing  the  movement,  checkmated  it  by  turning  a  hot  fire  upon  them. 
The  movement  was  effective.  The  Japanese  cruisers  slowed  down  and 
the  torpedo  boats  slipped  through  into  the  harbor. 

"Meantime,  in  accordance  with  Vice  Admiral  Makarofif's  order,  the 
battleships  and  cruisers  in  the  inner  harbor  slipped  anchor.  Majesti- 
cally the  Petropavlovsk,  flying  the  admiral's  flag,  steamed  through  the 
entrance.  On  her  appearance  the  more  formidable  of  the  Japanese 
cruisers  turned  and  fled.  The  admiral  signaled  the  Bayan  to  return. 
Then  a  stream  of  vari-colored  signal  flags  fluttered  out,  'Bravo,  Bayan.'' 

"By  this  time  the  entire  Russian  squadron  was  in  the  outer  harbor. 
Besides  the  Petropavlovsk,  I  saw  the  battleships  Peresviet,  Poltava, 
Pobieda  and  Sevastopol,  the  cruisers  Novik,  Diana  and  Askold,  and  the 
torpedo  boats.  The  flags  announcing  the  admiral's  approbation  of  the 
Bayan  were  hauled  down  and  replaced  by  another  signal.  Imme- 
diately the  torpedo  boats  dashed  ahead  and  the  heavier  ships  began  to 
spread  out. 

Enemy  Out  of  Range. 

"Seeing  the  flight  of  the  Japanese  cruisers,  the  Petropavlovsk  opened 
fire  with  her  great  guns,  but  the  enemy  was  out  of  range  and  soon  dis- 
appeared. Our  squadron  continued  the  chase,  finally  fading  from  view. 
I  waited  anxiously  for  its  reappearance  and  in  about  an  hour  it  came  in 
sight.  Far  beyond  it,  the  number  of  points  from  which  smoke  arose 
announced  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  Nearer  and  nearer  came  the 
vessels,  and  at  last  I  made  out  behind  our  squadron  a  fleet  of  fourteen 
of  which  six  were  battleships  and  the  remainder  armored  and  unarmored 
cruisers. 

"Our  squadron,  with  the  Petropavlovsk  leading,  arrived  at  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor  and  drew  up  in  line  of  battle.  Another  signal 
was  floated  from  the  flag  ship  and  the  torpedo  boats  at  once  proceeded 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  339 

through  the  entrance  into  the  inner  harbor.  Vice  Admiral  Makaroff 
evidently  was  unwilling  to  risk  his  vulnerable  craft  to  the  heavy  pro- 
jectiles of  the  enemy's  armored  ships. 

Prepared  for  Death. 

"I  watched  the  Petropavlovsk  closely  as  she  steamed  toward  Elec- 
tric Cliff.  The  frowning  marine  monster,  whose  guns  were  ever  turning 
toward  the  enemy,  was  prepared  to  send  huge  messengers  of  death 
against  him.  All  was  quiet.  It  was  the  hush  before  a  battle — the  hush 
when  every  nerve  is  strained.  I  looked  for  the  Japanese  ships,  but  they 
were  without  movement,  save  that  caused  by  the  heaving  sea. 

"My  glance  returned  to  our  squadron.  The  Petropavlovsk  was 
almost  without  headway,  when  suddenly  I  saw  her  tremble.  She 
seemed  to  rise  out  of  the  water,  a  tremendous  explosion  rent  the  air. 
then  a  second  and  then  a  third.  Fragments  flew  in  all  directions  and 
wreckage  and  men  were  mixed  up  in  a  terrible  mass. 

Sinks  in  Open  Sea. 

"I  was  hardly  able  to  realize  the  horror  of  it  when  the  ship  began  to 
list.  In  a  moment  the  sea  seemed  to  open  and  the  water  rushed  over 
her.  The  Petropavlovsk  had  disappeared.  The  floating  woodwork  and 
the  few  men  struggling  in  the  water  were  all  that  were  left  to  recall  the 
splendid  fighting  machine  which  a  few  hours  before  had  sailed  out  of 
the  harbor. 

"The  same  shock  experienced  by  the  observers  on  Golden  Hill  para- 
lyzed for  a  moment  the  men  on  the  ships,  but  when  it  passed,  torpeda 
boats  and  small  boats  hastened  to  the  rescue  of  the  survivors. 

"Eager  to  ascertain  what  had  occurred  on  board  the  sunken  ship,  I 
hastened  to  a  landing  where  a  small  remnant  of  the  crew  were  being  put 
ashore  and  conveyed  to  a  hospital.  Signalman  Bochkoff,  who  was 
slightly  wounded,  was  able  to  give  me  a  remarkably  clear  statement  of 
the  disaster.    He  said: 

"  'We  were  returning  to  the  harbor,  the  Petropavlovsk  leading. 
Some  of  our  cruisers  which  had  remained  in  the  harbor  came  out  and' 


340  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK. 

steamed  toward  the  enemy,  firing  sixteen  shots  at  him  with  their  bow 
guns.  They  then  retired.  The  enemy  numbered  fourteen  heavy  ships, 
nearly  all  armored,  while  ours  were  nine.  Against  their  armored  cruis- 
ers we  had  only  the  Bayan.  I  stood  in  the  wheelhouse  on  the  bridge  of 
the  Petropavlovsk,  looking  up  the  signal  book.  The  admiral's  last  signal 
had  been  for  the  torpedo  boats  to  enter  the  harbor. 

Explosions  Are  Heard. 

"  'The  Petropavlovsk  slowed  speed  and  almost  stood  still.  Suddenly 
the  ship  shook  violently.  I  heard  a  fearful  explosion,  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  another  and  then  another.  They  seemed  to  me  to  be  directly 
under  the  bridge.  I  rushed  to  the  door  of  the  wheelhouse,  where  I  met 
an  officer,  probably  a  helmsman.  I  could  not  pass  him,  and  I  sprang  to 
the  window  and  jumped  out.  The  ship  was  listing,  and  I  feared  that 
every  moment  she  would  turn  over. 

"  'On  the  bridge  I  saw  an  officer  weltering  in  blood— it  was  onr  ad- 
miral— Makaroff.  He  lay  face  downward,  I  sprang  to  him,  grasped 
him  by  the  shoulder  and  attempted  to  raise  him. 

"  *The  ship  seemed  to  be  falling  somewhere.  From  all  sides  flew 
fragments.  I  heard  the  deafening  screech  and  the  frightful  din.  The 
smoke  rose  in  dense  clouds  and  the  flames  seemed  to  leap  toward  the 
bridge  where  I  was  standing  beside  the  admiral.  I  jumped  on  the  rail 
and  was  washed  off,  but  succeeded  in  grabbing  something.  I  was  sucked 
down.    I  remember  the  falling  masts  and  then  nothing  more. 

"  *On  our  ship  was  an  old  man  with  a  beautiful  white  beard,  who  had 
been  good  to  our  men.  He  had  a  book  in  his  hand  and  seemed  to  be 
writing,  perhaps  sketching.     He  was  Verestchagin,  the  painter.*  '* 

Japanese  Naval  Disasters. 

On  April  26,  two  Russian  torpedo-boats  of  the  Vladivostok  squadron, 
while  off  Sinpho,  met  the  Japanese  military  transport  Kinshiu  Maru 
laden  with  military  stores  and  coal,  and  carrying  detachments  of  troops. 
The  captain  of  the  ship  and  three  or  four  officers  went  on  board  the  Rus- 
sian.   The  men  on  board  the  transport  refused  to  surrender,  and  seven- 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  PETROPAVLOVSK.  341 

ty-three  of  them  were  sent  to  the  bottom  with  the  ship.  Some,  how- 
ever, escaped  in  boats.  The  same  evening  the  Russians  also  sank  the 
Japanese  steamer  Nakamaiira  Maru  whose  crew  were  placed  in  safety. 

On  May  15,  the  Japanese  lost  two  warships.  The  details  of  the  disas- 
ter, according  to  Admiral  Togo,  were  as  follows: 

"At  fourteen  minutes  past  i  in  the  afternoon  of  May  15,  in  a  deep 
fog  off  Port  Arthur,  the  Kasuga  rammed  the  Yoshino,  sinking  the  latter 
in  a  few  minutes.  The  same  morning  the  Hatsuse,  while  cruising  off 
Port  Arthur  covering  the  landing  of  the  soldiers,  struck  a  mine  ten  knots 
southeast  of  the  harbor  entrance.  She  signalled  for  help  and  instantly 
struck  another  mine.  She  sank  in  half  an  hour.  Three  hundred  of  her 
crew  were  saved  by  torpedo  boats." 

The  crew  of  the  Yoshino  comprised  300  men,  which  would  make  the 
list  of  fatalities  on  her  part  210.  The  Hatsuse  carried  a  crew  of  seventy- 
four,  and  as  300  were  rescued,  the  fatalities  were  computed  to  be  441, 
making  a  total  of  651  for  both  boats. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.      ^ 
FIRST   LAND   BATTLES 

.^e  Battle  of  Chong-ju — The  Drama  of  the  Yalu — The  First  Move — Japanese  Gunnery — 
The  Russians  Evacuate  Tiger  Hill — Masterly  Strategy — Riissian  Guns  Silenced — A 
Frontal  Attack — Planting  the  Japanese  Flag  on  the  Ridge — A  Desperate  Bayonet 
Charge — The  Moral  Effect  of  the  Victory. 

DURING  the  early  days  of  the  campaign  the  movements  of  the 
Japanese  army  on  the  west  coast  of  Korea  were  shrouded  in  mys- 
tery. It  became  known  finally,  however,  that  the  troops  of  the  Mikado 
had  concluded  a  series  of  gradual  advances  with  the  occupation  of  Wiju. 
The  preliminary  skirmish  occurred  at  10:30  a.  m.  on  March  28th,  when 
the  Russians  and  Japanese  came  for  the  first  time  into  touch  at  Chong- 
ju,  a  walled  Korean  town  to  the  north  of  Anju.  Previous  to  this 
engagement  there  had  been  only  occasional  firing  between  scouts,  but 
in  this  encounter  six  companies  of  Russians  met  Japanese  infantry  and 
cavalry  in  Chong-ju  in  an  encounter  which  lasted  for  nearly  two  hours. 

The  Battle  of  Chong-Ju. 

The  Russians  were  advancing  to  Kasan,  where  they  had  heard  that 
bodies  of  Japanese  patrols  had  been  seen.  On  arriving  at  Chong-ju  they 
encountered  a  company  of  Japanese  infantry  and  a  squadron  of  cavalry. 
The  Russians,  with  an  additional  three  companies,  took  up  a  position  on 
a  ridge  commanding  the  town.  The  Russian  account  states  that  "not- 
withstanding this  and  our  commanding  position,  the  Japanese  gallantly 
held  their  ground,  and  it  was  only  after  a  fierce  fight  of  half-an-hour's 
duration  that  they  ceased  fire  and  sought  refuge  in  the  houses.  They 
hoisted  Red  Cross  flags  at  two  points.  Soon  afterwards,  on  the  Kasan 
road,  three  squadrons  of  the  enemy  were  seen  advancing  at  full  gallop 
towards  the  town,  which  two  squadrons  succeeded  in  entering.  The 
third  fell  back  in  disorder  under  the  repeated  volleys  of  our  troops,  men 

342 


FIRST  LAND  BATTLES.  343 

and  horses  being  seen  to  fall.  For  an  hour  afterwards  our  companies 
continued  to  fire  on  the  Japanese  in  the  town,  preventing  them  from 
leaving  the  streets  and  houses  to  open  fire  on  us.  An  hour  and  a  half 
after  the  beginning  of  the  engagement  four  companies  appeared  on  the 
Kasan  road  hastening  up  to  attack."  The  Russians  then  retired  and 
formed  up  in  line  behind  the  hill.  The  force  "moved  on"  but  not  in  the 
direction  of  Kasan.  Eventually  it  reached  Koaksan  and  proceeded 
northward.  The  Japanese  account  stated  that  in  the  army's  forward 
movement  the  Russians  were  compelled  to  retire  from  Chong-ju.  This 
step  was  followed  by  the  advance  of  the  Japanese  through  Seng-chen, 
with  which  there  was  a  corresponding  movement  concluding  with  the 
occupation  of  Yongampo  and  Wiju,  and  finally  of  Chyang-syong,  a 
point  some  little  distance  from  the  estuary  of  the  Yalu,  and  one  which 
once  its  seizure  had  been  accomplished  enabled  a  wider  front  upon  the 
river  to  be  secured. 

The  Struggle  on  the  Yalu. 

The  following  graphic  description  of  the  battle  of  the  Yalu,  the  first 
great  engagement  on  land  between  the  Japanese  and  Russian  forces  was 
prepared,  for  the  author,  by  the  military  expert  of  the  London  Times, 
who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  conflict. 

The  operations  which  resulted  in  the  crossing  of  the  Yalu  by  the 
Japanese  culminated  May  i,  in  the  occupation  of  Kiu-lien-cheng,  north 
of  the  Bany  River  and  opposite  Wiju.  Before  crossing  the  Japanese 
occupied  a  front  extending  from  Yongampo  to  a  point  fifteen  mile^ 
above  Wiju,  whence  Gen.  Kuroki  directed  movements  extending  down 
and  slightly  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Their  left  cannot  easily  be 
accounted  for,  but  it  is  understood  to  have  extended  a  long  distance,  one 
detachment  having  crossed  the  river  seventy-five  miles  above  Wiju  and 
disarmed  a  body  of  Korean  soldiers. 

How  the  Land  Lay. 

At  Wiju  the  Yalu  is  split  into  three  streams  by  two  islands,  which 
'were  held,  respectively,  by  Russians  and  Japanese,  the  middle  of  the 


344  FIRST  LAND  BATTLES. 

stream  forming  the  barrier  dividing  the  two  forces.  The  river  bed 
opposite  Wiju  is  two  miles  wide.  One  mile  above  the  islands  the  river 
Ai  joins  the  Yalu.  There  is  a  range  of  mountains  between  the  islands, 
culminating  in  a  rocky  promontory,  Tiger  Hill,  which  juts  into  the  bed 
of  the  river  one  mile  from  Wiju. 

Between  Tiger  Hill  and  the  Korean  shore  is  another  island,  occupy- 
ing the  -river  bed  some  miles  above  Wiju,  Tiger  Hill  and  the  adjoining 
mainland  formed  the  strategic  key  to  the  Russian  position,  and  its  pos- 
session was  essential  to  the  success  of  the  Japanese  plans. 

First  Forward  Move. 

April  28  the  Japanese  made  their  first  move,  occupying  the  island 
above  Tiger  Hill,  after  a  brisk  fight,  in  which  they  lost  nine  killed  and 
twenty-four  wounded.  During  the  day  the  Russians  opened  fire,  with 
field  artillery,  from  Kiu-lien-cheng,  upon  a  number  of  Japanese  and 
coolies,  who  were  building  a  trestle  bridge  from  Wiju  to  the  first  island. 

Later  in  the  day  they  shelled  Wiju  for  ten  minutes,  inflicting  slight 
damage.  The  Japanese  refrained  from  replying.  At  night,  according 
to  the  Japanese,  the  Russians  vacated  Tiger  Hill,  an  inexplicable  step. 

During  the  night  of  April  28  and  the  following  day,  various  points 
somewhere  above  Wiju  were  occupied.  One  division  of  Japanese  in- 
fantry crossed  the  Yalu  without  opposition  from  the  island  occupied 
during  the  day. 

The  Russians  evacuated  the  island  adjoining  Kiu-lien-cheng  April 
29,  and  reoccupied  Tiger  Hill  and  its  neck,  evidently  aware  of  the  cross- 
ing higher  up. and  desirous  of  strengthening  their  left  against  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Japanese  right 

The  Japanese  Marksmanship  Accurate. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Japanese  upon  the  island  above  Tiger  Hill  were 
subjected  to  a  heavy  rifle  fire  from  the  dominating  heights,  and  for  the 
first  time  the  Japanese  used  artillery.  Two  batteries  north  of  Wiju 
castle  were  employed  to  search  the  slopes  from  which  the  Russians 
v/ere  firing,  and  twenty  minutes  of  scathing  shrapnel  firing  was  kept  up. 


FIRST  LAND  BATTLES.  345 

The  Russians  were  seen  laboriously  climbing  the  steep  ascents  in  a  vain 
endeavor  to  escape  the  leaden  showers.  Many  dead  and  wounded  were 
left. 

The  Russian  artillery  at  Kiu-lien-cheng  made  ineffectual  attempts 
to  quell  the  Japanese  fire,  their  efforts  being  in  remarkable  contrast  to 
the  accuracy  and  concentration  of  the  Japanese  shooting. 

That  night  the  concentration  movement,  on  foot  for  some  days, 
came  to  a  head,  one  division  being  already  across  the  river  and  the 
other  two  massed  behind  the  hill  a  mile  north  of  Wiju,  protected  from 
the  fire  of  the  Russian  guns  at  Kiu-lien-cheng. 

Surprise  for  the  Russians. 

A  great  surprise  was  in  store  for  the  Russians.  What  happened  the 
following  day  with  regard  to  artillery,  deserves  to  be  ranked  among 
the  cleverest  moves  of  warfare  since  the  introduction  of  modern  ord- 
nance. The  concentration  of  the  division  also  appears  to  have  been 
masterly,  not  only  in  the  execution  of  movements,  but  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  concealed  from  the  enemy,  who  appear  to  have  been 
ignorant  that  the  Japanese  left  had  closed  upon  Wiju. 

At  daybreak,  April  30,  the  scene  was  peaceful  in  the  extreme. 
Across  the  sandy  bed  of  the  Yalu  meandered  three  sparkling  blue 
streams.  Beyond,  the  purple  mountains  of  Manchuria  stretched  in  end- 
less vista.  Only  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  hills  on  the  Korean  side 
was  there  evidence  of  war.  Dropping  our  gaze  from  the  far  north  to 
our  feet,  we  saw  a  valley  black  with  men,  horses,  baggage,  and  ammuni- 
tion trains,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  an  army  on  the  move.  The 
suggestion  was  that  the  army  would  cross  the  river,  that  the  crossing 
was  inevitable,  and  that  the  possibility  of  defeat  did  not  enter  into  the 
Japanese  calculations. 

What  the  Daylight  Showed. 

When  the  rising  sun  lit  up  the  hills  opposite  Wiju,  Japanese  in  thou- 
sands were  descried,  strung  out  in  single  file  and  streaming  along  the 
bridle  path  traversing  the  lower  slopes.     As  they  wound  in  and  out  of 


346  FIRST  LAND  BATTLES. 

the  ravines  they  gradually  ascended,   their  object   evidently  being  to 
occupy  the  heights  commanding  Tiger  Hill  and  its  approaches. 

Rounding  the  spur,  they  came  into  view  of  the  Russians  on  Tiger 
Hill  neck  and  were  instantly  subjected  to  a  heavy  shrapnel  fire.  The 
Russian  gun  position  was  thus  revealed  and  the  Japanese  batteries 
north  of  Wiju  opened  fire  and  speedily  silenced  the  Russian  guns.  The 
Japanese  steadily  advanced,  and  soon  scaled  the  heights,  whence  they 
brought  rifle  fire  to  bear  on  the  Russians,  who  were  eventually  com- 
pelled to  cross  the  Ai  and  join  their  main  force. 

Dramatic  Features  of  Day. 

During  these  operations  the  dramatic  feature  of  the  day  was  wit- 
nessed. The  Russians  believed  the  enemy  possessed  field  guns  only, 
and  their  positions  were  calculated  to  deal  with  artillery  of  that  caliber 
alone.  For  the  same  reason  they  had  taken  no  pains  to  mask  their  guns. 
When  the  Japanese  opened  upon  them  with  several  howitzer  batteries 
they  were  thunderstruck.  On  the  first  island  opposite  Wiju,  held  by 
the  Japanese,  is  a  belt  of  trees,  vividly  green  and  fresh  looking.  From 
out  of  this  innocent-looking  gem  of  nature  came  a  terrible  rain  of  shell 
and  shrapnel,  which  played  upon  the  Russian  batteries  on  the  conical 
hill,  swept  men  and  guns,  tore  the  ground  and  smashed  rocks.  In  the 
air  around  the  Russian  position  were  white  puffs  of  smoke,  denoting 
the  explosion  of  shrapnel,  while  the  hill  itself,  struck  by  shells  from  the 
heavy  howitzers,  looked  like  an  active  volcano,  belching  clouds  of  gray, 
black  smoke  from  a  dozen  different  places.  No  sooner  had  the  storm 
burst  than  the  Russian  shrapnel  streamed  through  the  air  in  reply  to 
the  unexpected  attack. 

The  green  of  the  trees  was  obscured  by  the  smoke  of  bursting  shells. 
Clouds  of  sand  and  dust  raised  by  the  missiles  striking  the  ground 
floated  away  on  the  wind,  and  the  booming  guns  and  the  deep  thunder- 
ing sound  of  the  explosion  filled  the  valley.  For  half  an  hour  the  Rus- 
sians stuck  to  their  guns  manfully,  but  gradually  their  guns  were 
silenced.  An  attempt  was  made  to  bring  up  horses  to  remove  the  guns, 
but  this  was  foiled  by  a  fresh  outburst  from  the  Japanese  artillery.    The 


FIRST  LAND  BATTLES.  347 

Japanese  fire  was  then  directed  on  the  Russian  camp  and  picket  lines, 
creating  great  havoc. 

Japanese  Well  Protected. 

Trees  hid  the  position  of  the  Japanese  from  the  Russians,  which  was 
■directed  on  the  belt  of  trees  from  which  the  deadly  hail  came,  but  the 
high  angle  fire  of  the  howitzers  enabled  the  Japanese  to  work  their 
guns  from  pits  which  the  Russian  shrapnel  fired  at  random,  rarely 
penetrated. 

The  success  of  the  day  was  with  the  Japanese,  and  the  glory  with 
the  Russians,  who  fought  their  guns  to  the  bitter  end.  On  the  night  of 
April  30,  the  infantry  of  another  Japanese  division  crossed  the  Yalu, 
followed  by  a  third  division.  At  daybreak.  May  i,  they  could  be  seen 
on  the  Russian  side  of  the  river  stretched  out  in  long,  thin  black  lines, 
sheltered  by  the  depressions  in  the  bed  of  the  river. 

It  was  easily  seen  that  the  Japanese  contemplated  a  frontal  attack. 
Before  any  move  was  made  the  Japanese  guns  opened  up  on  the  ground 
behind  Kiu-leen-cheng  with  shrapnel  shell,  sweeping  and  searching 
€very  inch  of  the  ridges  where  the  Russians  were  supposed  to  be.  No 
iiussian  guns  replied.    They  had  departed. 

Soon  the  Japanese  fire  slackened,  and  then  the  leading  line  upon  the 
sand  became  animated  and  slowly  crept  forward  toward  the  base  of  the 
conical  hill.  It  advanced  quite  a  long  time,  during  which  the  suspense 
was  painful  to  endure.  Then  there  came  to  listening  ears  the  quick 
grunting  of  distant  volleys  stuttering  down  the  wind  and  the  sound  of 
heavy  musketry  fire. 

The  line  showed  gaps,  faltered,  and  melted  away,  some  running 
backward,  others  taking  to  shelter,  many  mortally  hurt,  but  the  second 
line  close  behind  gathered  up  the  remnants  and  swept  on,  followed  by 
line  upon  line.  Closing  on  the  hill,  they  diverged  to  the  right  and  left, 
winding  up  the  precipitous  front  and  swarming  the  sloping  sides. 

Japanese  Flag  Unfurled. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  first  volley  from  the  Russians  the  Japanese  artil- 
lery again  began  to  plant  shells  upon  the  ridge,  raising  clouds  of  dust 


348  FIRST  LAND  BATTLES, 

in  every  direction.  The  Japanese  continued  to  climb  until  they  were 
near  the  top,  when  they  halted  and  massed  ready  to  charge  over  the 
crest. 

Then,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  dark  blot  upon  the  hillside  appeared 
two  flashes  and  two  enlarging  clouds.  It  was  another  of  these  sickening 
accidents  that  occur  on  battlefields  when  guns  have  been  supporting 
an  assault. 

Twenty-seven  modest  Japanese  graves  now  occupy  the  spot  as  the 
heavy  penalty  for  a  slight  misunderstanding.  Worse  of  the  same  nature 
was  to  befall  the  Russians  before  long.  At  last  the  rush  was  made  and 
the  Japanese  flag  was  bravely  unfurled,  first  on  one  side  and  then  on 
the  other,  one  dark  figure  racing  along,  defying  the  bullets  of  the  retir- 
ing Russians,  to  plant  his  country's  flag  in  the  highest  possible  place- 
Japan  had  beaten  the  Russians  at  their  first  meeting  on  land  and 
vindicated  her  claim  to  a  place  among  nations. 

Could  Not  Remove  Guns. 

On  May  6  the  capture  of  the  Russian  position  at  Kiu-lien-cheng 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  Russians  were  unable  to  remove  eight  of  their 
guns,  owing,  it  is  believed,  to  lack  of  horses,  which  shows  the  deadli- 
ness  of  the  fire  the  Japvanese  directed  against  the  Russian  picketing  lines 
on  the  previous  day. 

Evidently  the  Russians  anticipated  more  deliberation  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy,  whose  dashing  onslaught  forced  them  to  retire  and  leave 
these  coveted  trophies  of  war.  Hardly  had  the  Japanese  scaled  the 
position  at  Kiu-lien-cheng  than  the  reserves  of  two  divisions,  who  had 
hitherto  taken  no  part  in  the  proceedings,  were  set  in  motion.  Both 
bodies  of  men,  accompanied  by  mountain  guns,  hurried  along,  right  and 
left  of  the  Peking  road,  with  the  intention  of  cutting  off  the  retreat  of 
the  defeated  Russians.  The  reserves  of  the  remaining  division  fol- 
lowed more  leisurely,  employing  delayed  tactics. 

The  flanking  bodies  in  their  haste  outstripped  their  guns,  and,  after 
advancing  parallel  to  the  road  until  abreast  of  the  retiring  enemy,  they 
suddenly  closed  in,  completely  surprising  the  Russians,  who  were  forced 
to  take  a  defensive  position  at  Hohmutang. 


FIRST  LAND  BATTLES.  349 

Desperate  Charge  at  Hohmutang. 

The  body  pursuing  in  the  rear  quickened  its  movements,  and  all 
three  simultaneously  engaged  the  Russians.  A  desperate  fight  ensued, 
the  Russians  at  a  short  range  using  their  guns  with  deadly  effect.  The 
Japanese  greatly  outnumbered  their  opponents  and  inflicted  terrible 
losses  with  rifle  fire.  Without  guns  the  Japanese  might  well  have  re- 
tired and  waited  for  support,  but  the  men,  jealous  of  the  laurels  earned 
"by  their  comrades  earlier  in  the  day,  were  wild  to  get  at  the  enemy. 

With  loud  cheers  all  three  bodies,  with  bayonets  fixed,  charged  the 
Hussian  positions  in  almost  solid  masses.  Such  impetuosity,  backed  by 
superior  numbers,  could  not  be  withstood,  and  the  Russians  hoisted  the 
white  flag  in  token  of  surrender.  With  the  Russians  were  twenty  guns, 
all  of  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese.  Twenty  officers  were 
taken  prisoners  and  400  men,  more  than  half  of  them  wounded. 

The  official  figures  of  the  casualties  and  captures  on  May  i  state 
that  the  Japanese  losses  were :  Killed,  5  officers  and  160  men ;  wounded, 
29  officers  and  666  men ;  total,  860.  So  far  as  the  Russians  are  con- 
cerned, 1,362  dead  bodies  were  buried  by  the  Japanese,  while  475 
wounded  were  conveyed  to  the  Japanese  hospital.  The  captures  were 
28  guns,  20  officers  and  138  men  in  addition  to  the  wounded. 

The  distribution  of  the  Russian  force,  which  had  its  center  at  Kiu- 
lien-cheng,  was  approximately  2,^doo  west  of  Antung,  20,000  at  Antung, 
and  5,000  at  Kiu-lien-cheng.  The  Russians  known  to  have  occupied 
varions  points  on  the  Yalu  above  Kiu-lien-cheng  took  no  part  in  the 
operations  described,  nor  did  any  of  those  below  Kiu-lien-cheng. 

Russians  Were  Outnumbered. 

While  the  remarkable  victory  rests  with  the  Japanese,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  they  outnumbered  the  enemy  nearly  ten  to  one,  and  must 
necessarily  have  effected  a  crossing  and  scored  success,  but  that  they 
should  have  inflicted  calamitous  defeat  upon  the  Russians  beyond  all 
prediction  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  Russian  methods,  guns, 
and  rifles  are  old  fashioned.  With  the  Japanese  no  fault  can  be  found, 
except  that  they  achieved  results  at  great  expense  which  might  have 


350  FIRST  LAND  BATTLES. 

been  accomplished  with  but  little  loss,  would  have  held  the  Russians^ 
and  permitted  a  flanking  movement  on  a  wider  and  larger  scale,  similar 
to  the  one  which  actually  took  place  on  the  Russian  left,  seeing  that 
they  were  in  possession  of  Tiger  Hill.  Such  a  move  on  the  part  of  the 
Japanese  would  have  been  perfectly  practicable,  considering  the  number 
of  men  and  guns  at  their  disposal. 

Two  factors  doubtless  influenced  them,  one  the  necessity  of  giving 
an  army,  clamorous  to  emulate  the  deeds  of  their  naval  brethren,  an. 
opportunity  to  earn  distinction,  and  the  other  the  political  expediency 
of  inflicting  a  stunning  blow  on  the  enemy  and  demonstrating  at  one 
and  the  same  time  their  ability  to  cope  with  European  troops  in  close 
quarters.  These  objects  they  achieved  with  the  loss  of  about  900  men^ 
three-fourths  of  whom  were  soon  ready  for  duty  again.  Though  the 
fighting  strength  of  the  Russian  forces  in  the  Far  East  was  impaired 
infinitesimally — for  many  of  the  guns  captured  were  old,  and  it  is  as- 
sumed that  they  are  well  furnished  with  modern  weapons — the  moral 
effect  on  the  Russian  army  was  tremendouSo 

They  realized  that  the  Japanese  soldier  was  not  an  object  of  con- 
tempt, but  an  equal,  bold,  and  relentless  foe  in  war.  This  was  not 
without  effect  on  the  ill-paid  Russian  soldier,  who  is  almost  half  a  slave. 
The  Japanese  calculated  upon  this  effect. 

Ghouls  on  Battlefield. 

On  the  night  of  the  ist  instant  Japanese  headquarters  encamped  at 
Kiu-lien-cheng,  the  troops  after  their  hard  day's  fighting  bivouacking 
where  they  were  halted.  During  the  night  bands  of  Chinese  swarmed 
over  the  two  battlefields,  stripping  the  dead  of  clothes  and  accoutre- 
ments. The  Japanese,  greatly  enraged,  established  a  system  of  patrols^ 
which  prevented  the  possiblity  of  such  a  recurrence  or  anything  sim- 
ilar.   They  are  offering  rewards  for  the  apprehension  of  the  miscreants. 

On  May  2  a  Japanese  patrol  brought  word  that  on  the  previous 
night,  near  Fang-hen-cheng,  two  Russian  parties  met  in  the  dark,  each 
mistaking  the  other  for  the  enemy.  A  furious  fight  ensued,  which 
lasted  until  daylight,  when  the  Russians  discovered  their  grievous  error^ 


FIRST  LAND  BATTLES.  351 

It  appears  that  they  were  rear  flanking  parties,  retiring  on  the  main 
Russian  force,  and  had  narrowly  escaped  being  included  in  the  net 
which  the  Japanese  had  thrown  around  the  rear  guard. 

Being  unable  to  join  their  comrades  during  daylight,  they  essayed 
at  night  to  effect  a  junction,  going  across  country  and  marching  over 
hills,  which  in  the  dark  was  impracticable.  Unfortunately,  one  party, 
which  had  found  the  road  and  was  making  for  the  Russian  camp,  heard 
another  party  scrambling  over  the  rocks,  and  opened  fire  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  noise,  with  the  unhappy  result  recorded. 

Splendid  in  Battle. 

The  following  brief  but  graphic  recital  of  the  battle  on  the  Yalu 
was  furnished  by  an  eye-witness  who  was  with  the  Japanese  forces : 

"The  moonlight  night  broke  into  a  splendid  dawn  and  revealed  the 
Japanese  army  drawn  up  as  if  on  parade.  The  Russians  did  not  re- 
spond to  the  opening  of  the  Japanese  fire,  but  remained  silent  and 
invisible.  The  Japanese  line  of  infantry,  two  miles  long  and  entirely 
exposed,  advanced  from  point  to  point  by  swift,  sudden  rushes,  smartly 
executed  in  the  most  brilliant  style,  firing  steadily  all  the  while.  We 
watched  anxiously,  anticipating  that  each  rush  would  enter  the  zone 
of  fire.  The  Japanese  were  working  around  the  sides  of  Kiu-Lien  Bay 
to  their  position  when  the  Russian  trenches  suddenly  poured  a  hurri- 
cane of  rifle  fire  into  them  with  deadly  effect. 

"For  a  moment  the  Japanese  advance  weakened  and  recoiled,  then 
rallied  and  once  more  rushed  forward  across  the  stream,  obtaining 
some  shelter  in  a  dead  angle  under  the  base  of  the  mountain.  The 
Russians,  not  having  guns,  were  unable  to  reply  to  the  continuous  fire 
of  the   Japanese   artillery. 

"The  Japanese  advance  was  marked  now  by  prostrate  bodies.  In 
one  instance  two  Japanese  shells  did  terrible  execution  among  their 
own  men,  who  were  ascending  the  slope.  Two  hours  after  the  advance 
began  an  officer  suddenly  appeared  at  the  top  of  the  slope  waving  a 
large  Japanese  flag,  sending  an  electric  thrill  through  the  beholders, 
all  far  and  near  shouting  'Banzai.'  " 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
THE   BATTLE   OF   KINCHOU 

Nanshan  Hill — The  Russian  Army  Strongly  Fortified — Caliber  of  Eussian  Guns  Ascer- 
tained— Battlefield  Lighted  by  Electricity — A  Gap  in  the  Defence — Capture  of  Kin- 
chou — Storming  the  Heights — A  Famous  Victory — Japanese  Valor — Evacuation  of 
Dalny — Story  by  an  Eye  Witness — Loss  on  Both  Sides. 

AT  5:30  A.  M.,  Thursday,  May  26,  the  Japanese  army,  which 
began  the  attack  on  Kinchou  on  Saturday,  May  21,  captured 
the  city,  and  after  an  all-day  battle  drove  the  Russians  from  the  crest 
of  Nanshan  hill,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  at  7  o'clock  in  the  evening 
of  the  same  day. 

Nanshan  hill  was  taken  at  a  fearful  sacrifice  of  life.  Time  and  again 
the  Japanese  lines  essayed  to  storm  the  height  in  the  face  of  a  terrible 
rifle  and  artillery  fire.  Each  time  they  were  thrown  back,  their  lines 
decimated  and  shattered.  At  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Japanese 
lines  were  reformed  for  a  last  and  desperate  effort. 

The  Russians  fought  doggedly,  but  after  a  four  hours'  struggle  the 
Japanese  swept  the  crest  of  the  hill,  driving  the  Rtissians  to  the  south- 
ward in  confusion  and  panic.  As  a  feat  of  arms  the  capture  of  Nanshan 
hill  has  not  been  equaled  in  war  since  Skobelefif  threw  the  Russian 
regiments  at  the  impenetrable  defenses  of  Plevna  in  a  vain  effort  to 
carry  them  by  storm. 

Nanshan  a  Fortress. 

Nanshan  hill,  1,100  feet  high,  was  held  by  the  extreme  left  of  the 
Russian  army,  and  was  believed  by  the  Russians  to  be  impregnable. 
The  liill  was  the  strongest  part  of  the  Russian  line.  A  series  of  bat- 
teries, strongly  emplaced,  crowded  its  crest,  while  rifle  pits  extended 
around  its  sides.  Mines  had  been  placed  lower  down  on  this  hill,  and 
around  tbe  base  on  the  northern  and  eastern  sides  were  stretched  well- 
made  wire  entanglements.     Another   line   of  defenses,   also  protected 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU.  353 

with  wire  entanglements,  extended  from  Yenchiatung  near  the  ^ead 
of  Talienwan  bay,  due  north  of  Linchiatien,  which  lies  south  of  Kin- 
chou. 

Jap  Valor  Severely  Tried. 

This  was  Nanshan  hill,  and  it  was  over  these  mines,  through  these 
pits,  trenches  and  barbed  wire  entanglements,  and  in  the  face  of  bat- 
tery after  battery  of  artillery  and  line  after  line  of  intrenched  infantry 
that  the  Japanese  troops  fought  their  way,  inch  by  inch,  foot  by  foot, 
to  the  battery-crowned  crest  of  the  height  and  drove  the  enemy  south- 
ward toward  Port  Arthur. 

The  capture  of  Nanshan  hill  was  the  climax  of  five  days  and  nights 
of  battle.  The  Japanese  army  with  only  field  artillery  and  no  heavy 
guns,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  transportation,  was  in  position  for  the 
attack  Saturday.  The  Russians  had  made  elaborate  preparations  to 
check  the  Japanese  movement  south  on  the  Liaotung  peninsula  toward 
Port  Arthur.  They  had  fortified  the  high  ground  on  the  south  shore 
of  Talienwan  bay,  their  works  extending  to  the  east  and  the  west. 
The  extreme  Russian  right  was  at  Hushangtao,  and  the  extreme  left 
at  Nanshan  hill.  This  hill  was  the  strongest  part  of  the  line.  At 
Kinchou  itself  the  Russians  had  a  strong  force  of  infantry  and  artil- 
lery. 

The  Japanese  first  occupied  the  line  of  hills  to  the  east  of  Kinchou. 
Their  positton  had  formed  an  almost  perfect  right  angle,  showing  its 
southern  front  to  Talienwan  and  its  western  front  to  Kinchou.  Chiuli- 
chan  village  was  the  apex  of  this  angle ;  the  extreme  right  of  the 
Japanese  lines  rested  at  Chenchatien,  which  is  almost  due  north  of 
Chiulichan,  while  the  extreme  left  was  at  Chaitsuho,  a  village  due  east 
of  Chiulichan.  Back  of  this  angle  the  attacking  force  assembled  in 
complete  security. 

Artillery  Opens  on  Saturday. 

The  Russians  apparently  attempted  to  draw  the  Japanese  attack 

on  Saturday,  for  their  batteries  opened  fire  on  the  enemy  on  that  day. 

The  Japanese,  however,  refused  to  be  drawn  into  battle  until  the 


354  THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 

positions  of  the  Russians,  their  guns,  and  their  strength  had  been  fully 
developed.  To  this  end  the  Japanese  began  a  series  of  careful  recon- 
noissances,  their  officers  working  their  way  close  enough  to  the  Rus- 
sian position  to  draw  the  enemy's  fire.  They  thus  secured  fragments 
of  shells  for  the  purpose  of  ascertainng  the  caliber  of  the  Russian  guns. 

Caliber  of  Russian  Guns. 

They  discovered  that  the  batteries  on  Nanshan  hill  included  four 
howitzers  of  about  15  centimeters  caliber,  ten  old-style  cannon  of  be- 
tween 9  and  15  centimeters  caliber,  and  two  quick  firing  guns  of  12 
centimeters. 

The  Japanese  discovered  also  a  number  of  large  emplacements,  but 
they  did  not  learn  the  number  of  guns  contained  therein.  These  em- 
placements faced  to  the  north  and  to  the  east. 

The  guns  fired  by  the  Russians  developed  a  range  of  8,500  meters. 
Eight  heavy  guns  posted  on  the  Russian  right  in  the  vicinity  of  Hush- 
■angtao  also  were  discovered,  and  another  strong  Russian  position 
developed  by  these  reconnoissances  was  on  another  hill  southwest  of 
Nanshan  hill,  where  the  Russians  had  a  series  of  shelter  trenches. 

Electrically  Lighted  Battleground. 

On  the  shore  of  Talienwan  bay,  close  to  the  head  of  the  bay,  the 
Russians  had  established  a  series  of  positions.  Here  were  set  up  the 
searchlights  which  all  through  Wednesday  night  played  over  the  Jap- 
anese angle  in  the  hills  to  the  northeast.  Probably  this  was  the  first 
instance  in  the  history  of  warfare  that  contending  armies  fought  over 
a  battlefield  lighted  by  electricity. 

Russian's  Fatal  Error. 

Further  reconnoissances  developed  the  fact  that  west  of  Liuchiatien 
the  Russians  had  no  defenses.  Extending  to  the  northward  from 
Yenchiatien  to  the  west  coast  of  Liaotung  peninsula  there  were  no  de- 
fenses whatever,  except  the  force  posted  at  Kinchou. 

This  gap  in  the  defense  was  a  fatal  defect  in  the  Russian  position^ 
and  when  it  was  perceived  the  Japanese  extended  their  right  to  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU.  355 

north  and  east,  enveloping  Kinchou  and  the  Russian  extreme  right. 
The  Japanese  left  also  was  extended  to  Wangchiatung,  on  the  shore 
of  Talienwan  bay,  and  the  center  moved  forward. 

Capture  of  Kinchou. 

Wednesday  morning,  May  25,  at  half-past  5  o'clock,  the  Japanese 
attacked  Kinchou,  and  for  three  hours  they  had  an  artillery  duel  with 
the  batteries  on  Nanshan  hill.  The  Russian  gunners  searched  the  Jap- 
anese lines  with  their  fire,  but  failed  to  inflict  much  damage. 

The  battle  was  resumed  at  dawn  on  Thursday,  May  26,  and  the 
land  forces  had  the  assistance  of  a  number  of  warships  from  Vice 
Admiral  Togo's  fleet. 

Togo  Aids  the  Arrriy. 

The  gunboats  Tsukushi,  Kei  Yen,  Amaki  and  Chokai,  and  the  first 
torpedo  boat  flotilla  under  Capt.  Nishiyama,  reached  Kinchou  bay  on 
the  evening  of  Wednesday.  From  dawn  of  Thursday  the -vessels  co- 
operated with  the  army  in  bombarding  Nanshan  hill.  The  Amaki  and 
the  Chokai,  being  light  draft  vessels,  went  in  close  and  bombarded  all 
day. 

At  II  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  army  retreated  from  Suchaton, 
but  they  continued  to  fire  from  a  position  behind  Suchaton.  The  cas- 
ualties on  the  Japanese  warships  were  ten,  including  Capt.  Hayashi  of 
the  Chokai,  who  was  killed.  A  Russian  gunboat  in  Talienwan  bay 
steamed  close  to  the  shore  and  shelled  the  Japanese  left.  From  dawn 
the  batteries  on  both  sides  hammered  away  at  each  other. 

At  daybreak  the  Japanese  infantry  moved  forward,  and,  after  an 
hour's  fighting,  and  at  twenty  minutes  past  5  o'clock  on  Thursday 
morning,  they  entered  Kinchou,  the  Russians  retiring  to  the  south  and 
taking  up  a  position  on  Nanshan  hill. 

Nanshan  Hill  Attacked. 

The  Japanese  army  lost  no  time  in  pressing  forward  to  the  assault 
of  Nanshan  hill.  It  had  been  fighting  day  and  night  since  Saturday, 
but  its  most  fearful  task  was  before  it. 


356  THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 

The  hill  could  be  carried  only  by  a  frontal  attack.  The  Japanese 
general  realized  the  sacrifice,  but  it  could  not  be  evaded.  The  hill  stood 
between  the  Japanese  advance  and  Port  Arthur.    He  ordered  the  attack. 

The  Japanese  troops  advanced  with  a  rush,  cheering  for  the  em- 
peror. They  were  driven  back.  Again  they  attacked  and  again  they 
were  driven  back.  The  dead  and  wounded  covered  the  ground  of  the 
bloody  hillside,  and  yet  again  the  mikado's  soldiers  rushed  at  the 
trenches,  broke  through  the  meshes  of  barbed  wire  and  netting,  only 
to  be  thrown  back. 

Japs  Storm  the  Heights. 

In  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  the  Russian  resistance  apparently 
was  as  dogged  as  ever.  Japanese  reserves  were  brought  up,  and  at 
3  o'clock  the  Japanese  forces  lined  up  for  the  final,  and,  as  it  proved  to 
be,  the  successful  rush  up  the  hillside.  The  Russians,  unable  longer  to 
resist  the  impetuous  advance  of  the  enemy,  weakened  as  trench  after 
trench  was  occupied  by  the  mikado's  troops. 

Finally,  at  7  o'clock  in  the  evening,  after  sixteen  hours  of  con- 
tinuous battle,  the  Japanese  lines  swept  the  crests  and  Nanshan  hill 
was  won. 

Russians  in  Retreat. 

The  Russians  retired  to  the  line  of  hills  farther  to  the  southward, 
toward  Nanquanling,  where  they  had  constructed  a  second  line  of 
defense,  but  failed  to  rally  at  that  point.  As  the  Russians  retreated 
they  exploded  a  series  of  mines  under  the  railroad,  destroying  it  in 
many  places. 

A  brief  official  telegram  characteristic  of  Japanese  reserve  summed 
up  the  result  as  follows : 

"We  attacked  the  enemy  at  Nanshan,  south  of  Kinchou.  We 
silenced  the  enemy's  forts  upon  Roten  hill  and  occupied  Nanshan  at  7 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  At  Nanshan  the  enemy  offered  a  stubborn 
resistance.  Each  of  the  forts  was  surrounded  by  several  trenches 
coupled  together  and  equipped  with  additional  means  of  defense  and 
using  efficient  weapons.     Several  times  we  tried  to  carry  the  point, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU.  357 

but  failed  to  do  so.  At  3  o'clock  p.  m.  we  penetrated  the  enemy's 
position  with  fixed  bayonets  and  the  enemy  retreated  towards  Xan- 
quanling.  The  enemy  destroyed  the  Kinchou  railway  station  with  a 
mine.  We  fought  for  sixteen  hours  without  cessation,  and  then  carried 
the  Russian  position  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  despite  the  enemy's 
heavy  fire."- 

Fought  Against  Great  Odds. 

Telegrams  from  the  Japanese  commanders  were  forwarded  to 
Tokio,  praising  the  bravery  and  fortitude  of  their  officers  and  men. 
A  Japanese  officer  of  high  rank  made  the  following  statement: 

"The  Japanese  in  attacking  Kinchou  and  Nanshan  hill  had  tO  fight 
against  great  odds.  The  Russians  were  in  full  command  of  the 
strategical  advantages  afforded  by  nature,  and  these  advantages  were 
augmented  by  the  newest  inventions  for  defense.  The  forts  on  Nan- 
shan hill  were  armed  with  heavy  guns.  The  Japanese  had  only  field 
guns,  heavy  guns  being  unavailable  on  account  of  the  difficulties  of 
transportation.  Our  losses  were  heavy,  but  we  gained  the  strongest 
point  barring  our  way  to  the  investment  of  Port  Arthur." 

Destruction  of  Russian  Mines. 

A  noted  military  authority  in  commenting  on  the  Japanese  assault 
on  Nanshan  hill  affirms  that  it  was  one  of  the  fiercest  and  bloodiest 
affairs  in  modern  warfare.  In  the  earlier  rushes  of  the  engagement 
every  man  participating  was  shot  down  before  he  reached  the  first  line 
of  Russian  trenches.  It  was  found  necessary  to  stop  these  infantry 
charges  and  renew  the  artillery  fire  from  the  rear  before  the  final  and 
successful  assault  on  the  Russian  position  could  be  made. 

The  success  of  this  assault  was  brought  about  by  one  detachment 
of  Japanese  troops,  more  intrepid  than  their  comrades,  who  succeeded 
in  piercing  the  Russian  lines. 

A  splendid  stroke  of  fortune  was  the  discovery  and  destruction  by 
the  Japanese  of  the  electric  wires  leading  to  the  mines  at  the  eastern 
foot  of  Nanshan  hill.     This  prevented  the   Russians   from   exploding 


358  THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 

these  mines  when  the  Japanese  infantry  crossed  the  ground  where  thejr 
had  been  placed. 

It  is  possible  that  the  fortune  of  the  day  hinged  upon  these  mines. 
If  the  Russians  had  been  able  to  explode  them  at  the  right  time  the 
losses  among  the  Japanese  troops  would  have  been  tremendous,  and 
it  is  possible  also  that  the  Russians  would  have  been  able  to  hold  the 
hill. 

Nanshan  Splendidly  Defended. 

Nanshan  was  splendidly  defended.  Nearly  fifty  guns  of  various 
sizes  were  mounted  on  the  various  emplacements  and  there  were  also 
two  batteries  of  quick  firing  field  pieces. 

The  artillery  was  sheltered  behind  loopholes  trenched  on  the  ter- 
races of  the  hill.  The  infantry  manning  the  field  pieces  ran  with  them 
around  the  hill,  thus  using  these  guns  for  the  protection  of  the  most 
important  points. 

Russian  Batteries  Silenced. 

The  Japanese  began  the  fight  by  bringing  all  their  field  guns  into 
action  and  concentrating  their  fire  on  the  emplacements  on  the  hill- 
By  II  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  principal  Russian  batteries  had  been 
silenced.  The  two  Russian  field  batteries  then  withdrew  to  Nanquan- 
ling  hill,  and  from  there  continued  to  fire  on  the  Japanese  until  night- 
fall. 

After  the  Russian  batteries  had  been  silenced  the  Japanese  artillery 
opened  on  the  enemy's  trenches,  the  Japanese  infantry  advancing  mean- 
while to  within  rifle  range.  The  Japanese  gradually  worked  to  within 
400  yards  of  the  Russian  lines,  where  they  encountered  wire  and  other 
entanglements. 

Every  Man  Shot  Down. 

They  succeeded  in  discovering  an  opening  in  these  obstacles  and 
getting  finally  to  within  200  yards  of  the  Russian  trenches  they  rushed 
for  the  line.  Several  successive  charges  were  made,  but  every  officer 
and  man  in  the  attacking  parties  was  shot  down  twenty  or  thirty  yards 
from  the  line. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU.  359 

The  charges  were  then  stopped  and  the  Japanese  artillery  renewed 
its  preparatory  fire  on  the  enemy's  position.  Towards  evening  a  detach- 
ment of  Japanese  carried  a  section  of  the  Russian  trenches,  breaking 
through  the  enemy's  line.   " 

Hundreds  of  the  comrades  of  these  men,  inspired  by  their  success, 
sprang  forward,  and  then  the  entire  Japanese  line  swept  up  the  hill, 
driving  the  Russians  from  their  positions.  It  was  in  the  desperate  in- 
fantry charges  that  the  Japanese  sustained  the  bulk  of  their  losses. 

The  Russians  Evacuate  Dahiy. 

On  May  30  a  large  force  of  Japanese  troops  entered  Dalny.  The 
Russian  barracks  and  warehouses,  the  railway  and  telegraph  stations, 
and  more  than  100  buildings  were  uninjured.  The  Russians  also  left 
200  railway  cars  intact,  which  the  Japanese  were  able  to  use.  All  the 
small  railroad  bridges,  however,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town  were  de- 
stroyed. The  Russians  demolished  the  largest  pier,  but  all  other  docks 
and  smaller  piers  were  uninjured.  Several  steam  launches  were  sunk 
at  the  entrance  to  the  dock,  but  the  harbor  jetties  were  found  to  be 
intact.  The  Russians  also  destroyed  the  gunboat  used  at  Talienwan 
against  the  Japanese  left  during  the  battle  of  Nanshan  hill.  It  was 
very  evident  that  the  Russians  fled  quickly  when  Nanshan  hill  was 
lost,  probably  expecting  that  General  Oku  would  immediately  take 
possession  of  Dalny. 

Driving  Home  the  Wedge. 

The  following  story  of  an  eye-w^itness  of  the  battle  of  Kinchou  is 
a  thrilling  recital  of  unquestioning  heroism  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 
and  dogged  resistance  on  the  side  of  the  Russians: 

"Forty  thousand  Japanese  were  massed  behind  the  western  spur  of 
Mount  Sampson  under  such  small  cover  as  afforded  by  the  twin  peaks. 
The  troops  were  within  2,000  yards  of  the  Russian  works. 

"There  was  so  little  room  to  deploy  for  attack  that  battalions  of 
Japanese  troops  were  obliged  to  stand  in  the  sea  waiting  for  the  mo- 


36o  THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 

ment  of  attack,  exposed  to  a  veritable  inferno  of  fire  from  the  Russian 
batteries.     The  shells  plowed  into  their  serried  masses. 

Jap  Artillery  in  Action. 

"Meantime  battery  after  battery  of  Japanese  guns  went  into  action 
upon  the  Chilichwang  and  the  Kauchiayan  flats  and  a  sustained  gun- 
boat fire  played  upon  the  Russian  works.  Their  line  was  fringed  with 
bursting  projectiles. 

"About  midday  the  energy  of  the  Russian  defenders  in  the  works 
in  front  of  Mauchiaying  village  seemed  exhausted  by  the  gunboat .  fire. 
Two  Japanese  battalions  appeared  over  the  saddle  between  the  twin 
peaks  and  made  a  desperate  effort  to  carry  the  nearest  Russian  works. 

"At  first  the  straggling  walls  of  Alauchiaying  gave  them  some  cover 
and  a  moment's  breathing  space.  Then  the  gallant  little  infantrymen 
crept  on  again  up  the  slopes  toward  the  Russian  position. 

Avalanches  of  Bullets. 

"It  was  an  impossible  task.  As  yet  the  defenders  had  not  been 
sufficiently  shaken.  An  avalanche  of  concentrated  fire  from  infantry 
in  the  trenches,  machine  guns  in  the  Russian  works,  and  quick  firing 
field  artillery  in  the  supporting  defenses  struck  the  Japanese.  They 
melted  away  from  the  glacis  like  solder  before  the  flame  of  a  blow- 
pipe. A  few  who  seemed  to  have  charmed  lives  struggled  on  until  they 
reached  the  wire  entanglements. 

Two  Battalions  Wiped  Out. 

"It  was  in  vain.  Heroic  effort  was  wasted.  Within  fifteen  minutes 
these  two  battalions  ceased  to  exist  except  as  a  trail  of  mutilated 
bodies  at  the  foot  of  the  Russian  glacis. 

"Seeing  the  failure  of  this  attack  the  gunboats  and  supporting  artil- 
lery concentrated  the  whole  of  their  fire  upon  the  point  where  General 
Oku  had  determined  to  drive  home  his  wedge,  and  by  evening  the 
works  were  practicable  for  an  assault  by  a  general  who  had  such  in- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU.  361 

fantry  as  the  Japanese  and  who  was  prepared  to  take  the  responsibiHty 
of  such  fearful  losses. 

"It  would  seem  as  if  the  actual  carrying  of  the  works  had  been 
another  Alma.  The  word  was  given  for  a  bayonet  attack.  Then  the 
whole  Japanese  front  surged  forward,  and  the  moral  balance  went  over 
to  the  side  of  the  Japanese,  the  Russians  retiring  before  them." 

The  Japanese  Lose  4,304  Men. 

The  total  of  the  Japanese  casualties  at  the  battle  of  Nanshan  hill 
was  4,304,  divided  as  follows :  Thirty-one  officers,  including  one  major 
and  five  sergeant  majors,  and  713  noncommissioned  officers  and  men 
killed;  100  officers,  including  one  colonel,  one  major,  and  twelve  sur- 
geon majors,  and  3,460  noncommissioned  officers  and  men  wounded. 
The  Russian  losses  in  the  fighting  at  Kinchou  were  officially  stated  to 
have  been  30  officers  and  800  men  killed  or  wounded. 

Gen.  Stoessel's  report  stated  that  the  attack  began  on  May  21  and 
culminated  on  the  evening  of  May  26.  -The  real  fighting  was  practically 
confined  to  May  25  and  26,  the  Japanese  remaining  quiet  the  two  pre- 
vious days. 

Gen.  Stoessel's  Report. 

"After  a  fierce  battle  lasting  two  days,  I  ordered  our  positions  at 
Kinchou  to  be  evacuated  in  the  evening,  for  we  had  opposed  to  us  at 
least  three  divisions  with  120  guns. 

"The  enemy's  fire,  particularly  that  from  four  gunboats  and  six 
torpedo  boats,  completely  annihilated  our  batteries  mounted  at  Kin- 
chou. The  Fifth  regiment,  which  was  posted  on  this  spot,  stood  its 
ground  heroically.  The  fire  of  this  regiment,  as  well  as  that  of  our 
batteries  and  the  gunboat  Bobr  oflf  Khounoueza,  inflicted  enormous 
losses  on  the  Japanese. 

"Our  losses  amounted  to  thirty  officers  and  800  men  killed  or 
w^ounded.  We  blew  up  or  damaged  all  our  guns  which  the  Japanese 
had  not  put  out  of  action.  It  would  have  been  inexpedient  certainly 
to  bring  up  siege  artillery  during  the  fierce  fighting. 


362  THE  BATTLE  OF  KINCHOU. 

'The  battle  of  May  26  began  at  5  a,  m.  and  lasted  until  8  p.  m., 
Avhen  I  ordered  the  position  evacuated  gradually.  The  explosion  of  a 
number  of  our  mines  and  fougades  was  rendered  impossible  by  the 
Japanese,  who  turned  our  position  immediately.  The  Japanese  ad- 
vanced through  water  up  to  their  waists  under  the  protection  of  their 
ships." 

Gen.  Stoessel's  reported  further,  that  owing  to  the  absence  of  the 
support  of  warships  against  the  Japanese  artillery  fire  at  the  time  of 
the  final  assault  on  the  Russian  positions  on  Nanshan  hill  during  the 
evening  of  May  26  he  at  8  o'clock  gave  the  order  to  blow  up  the  guns 
and  retire.  The  general  stated  that  the  order  was  only  partly  executed, 
as  the  enemy's  flank  movements  necessitated  promptness  in  retreat, 
which,  he  says,  was  carried  out  with  great  coolness,  thus  accounting 
for  the  smallness  of  the  Russian  losses. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN 

The  Commander-in-Chief  Arrives — His  Journey  from  St.  Petershurg — Japanese  Movement 
Hidden — The  Affair  at  Vagenfuchu — A  Cossack  Charge — Alexieff  and  Koxiropatkin 
Fall  to  Agree — ^Mikado's  Soldiers  Worthy  of  Praise — Chinese  Bandits. 

THE  advance  of  the  Japanese  field  forces  to  the  banks  of  the  Yalu 
and  the  reports  of  landing  upon  Manchurian  territory  shifted 
the  center  of  interest  still  further  northward  and  westward.  The 
various  centers  of  interest  of  the  land  movements  have  been  in  order  of 
progression,  Chemulpo  and  Seoul,  Chinampo  and  Pingyang,  Anju, 
Chong-ju,  and,  lastly,  the  Yalu.  Then  the  area  of  interest  shifted 
across  the  great  plain,  at  the  edge  of  which  lay  historic  Mukden,  from 
which  General  Kouropatkin  had  been  directing  the  Russian  prepara- 
tions, Liaoyang,  Haichong,  and  other  Chinese  towns  of  varying  im- 
portance. All  this  ground  was  fought  over  by  the  Japanese  troops 
during  the  China-Japanese  War  of  1894-5,  so  that  it  is  of  extreme 
interest  to  follow  the  movements  of  that  campaign. 

The  Japanese  Routes  in  1894. 

The  chief  route  then  taken  by  the  Japanese  was  from  Antung 
through  Siuyen  to  Haichong,  south  of  Liaoyang.  In  the  campaign  of 
1894-5  the  Japanese  held  these  hills  against  a  great  host  of  Chinese. 
To  reach  this  position  the  Japanese  third  division  set  out  from  Antung 
on  December  3,  1894,  and  crossed  the  intervening  mountains  by  way 
of  Siuyen  and  Si-mu-cheng,  reaching  Haichong  in  ten  days.  The  roads 
then  were  frozen  hard;  the  sloppy  conditions  at  present  prevailing 
would  probably  prevent  such  a  record  being  again  repeated.  General 
Katsura,  who  later  became  Prime  Minister,  had  at  the  same  time  a 
torce  operating  on  his  right  at  Fengwangchang  in  the  direction  of  the 
Motien  pass. 

General  Kouropatkin  reached  Mukden,  the  base  of  future  opera- 

363 


364  THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN. 

tions  against  the  invading  Japanese  army,  on  Friday,  March  25.  An 
account  of  his  journey  thither  from  St.  Petersburg  along  the  Great 
Siberian  railway,  which  lasted  some  fourteen  days,  may  be  of  interest. 
All  along  the  route  he  was  greeted  with  the  most  marked  enthusiasm, 
as  the  Russians  firmly  believe  in  his  ability  and  that  his  presence  in 
command  of  the  Manchurian  army  will  go  a  long  way  towards  the 
eventual  success  of  the  Russian  arms  in  the  campaign  which  is  now 
about  to  begin. 
,  Goodbye  to  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow. 

He  left  St.  Petersburg  at  6  p.  m.  on  Saturday,  March  12.  Previous 
to  starting  he  was  presented  by  the  Czar  with  a  magnificent  iron-grey 
charger,  a  thoroughl^red  from  his  Majesty's  own  stables.  General 
Kouropatkin  received  a  most  hearty  send-ofT  from  thousands  of  spec- 
tators, many  of  whom  presented  him  wth  ikons  and  other  holy  relics. 
He  reached  Moscow  early  on  Monday  morning  and  l^ft  the  same 
evening.  His  departure  from  Moscow  station  will  long  be  remembered 
by  those  who  witnessed  it.  The  platforms  were  crowded,  and  so  indeed 
were  all  the  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  station.  The  general, 
who  wore  the  Order  of  St.  George,  recently  presented  to  him  by  the 
Czar,  was  accompanied  by  his  staff  and  Colonel  Gavrielitz,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  new  armor  train.  This  train,  which  was  to  form  the  head- 
quarters of  the  general  during  the  forthcoming  operations  in  Manchuria, 
consisted  only  of  three  carriages — one  for  his  own  personal  use,  one 
for  the  use  of  the  stafif,  whilst  the  remaining  coach  was  used  as  a 
dining-car.  Both  the  engine  and  carriages  were  bullet-proof,  and  the 
train  was  the  work  of  a  Russian  firm  of  engineers  at  Moscow.  It  was 
modelled  on  the  same  plan  as  the  armor  trains  which  were  used  in 
South  Africa.  On  the  platform  to  bid  farewell  to  the  general  were 
collected  all  the  civil  and  military  dignitaries  of  the  town,  including  the 
governor  of  Moscow. 

A  Godspeed. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the  presentation  by 
Prince  Trubetzki  to  General  Kouropatkin  of  a  white  standard  which 


THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN.  365 

bore  the  inscription,  "God  be  with  you,"  and  "The  Lord  preserves  His 
Own,"  whilst  the  words,  "To  the  Commander  of  the  Manchurian  Army, 
Adjutant-General  Kouropatkin,"  were  engraved  on  the  woodwork.  The 
prince  made  a  short  speech  as  follows:  "Alexis  Nicholievich,  all  Mos- 
cow is  assembled  this  evening  to  bid  you  farewell;  you  carry  with  you 
our  prayers  and  best  wishes  for  your  success.  Without  doubt  the 
enemy  you  are  about  to  encounter  is  no  mean  foe,  but  they  will  not 
prevail  against  the  might  of  Russia.  We  gladly  entrust  to  you  our 
forces  in  the  Far  East,  to  you  who  on  so  many  occasions  have  made 
your  name  famous  in  the  annals  of  war.  We  are  confident  that  you 
will  lead  our  troops  to  victory,  and  in  bidding  you  farewell  we  commend 
you  to  God's  protection."  The  speech  was  received  with  tremendous 
applause,  and  shouts  of  "Kouropatkin"  and  cheers  for  his  brave  army 
resounded  on  all  sides.  In  replying  to  the  prince's  speech  the  general 
spoke  as  follows :  "Russia  has  passed  through  far  greater  trials  than 
those  which  she  is  to-day  encountering,  but  in  the  end  she  has  always 
emerged  victorious.  Without  minimizing  our  difficulties  or  disparag- 
ing our  foes,  surely  we  may  trust  that  in  this  war  success  will  attend 
our  arms.  There  is  already  a  large  force  in  the  Far  East,  but  should 
it  prove  insufficient  our  resources  are  large,  and  we  are  confident  of 
ultimate  success.  We  will  spare  neither  blood  nor  money,  all  must  be 
sacrificed  for  the  Emperor  and  our  Fatherland.  I  will  convey  your 
good  wishes  to  the  Manchurian  army  and  will  now  only  ask  you  to 
await  with  patience  and  fortitude  the  events  of  the  next  few  months  in 
the  full  assurance  that  Holy  Russia  will  in  this  war,  unsought  by  her, 
confirm  her  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  world."  Twenty-five  thousand 
roubles  were  then  handed  over  to  the  general  towards  the  funds  for 
first  aid  to  the  wounded,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  train  left  Moscow. 

The  Church's  Blessing. 

Toula  was  reached  on  the  next  day  without  incident  except  for  the 
large  crowds  which  collected  at  the  station  to  bid  the  general  godspeed. 
On  reaching  Zlatust,  close  b)'^  the  Ural  mountains,  a  special  reception 
waited  the  general.    It  was  taken  by  many  as  a  good  omen  that  for  the 


366  THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN. 

time  of  year  the  weather  was  warm  and  springHke  and  the  sun  w^as; 
shining-  brightly.  As  before,  thousands  of  people,  peasantry  and 
officials,  pressed  forward  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  general.  The  clergy 
in  the  beautiful  robes  of  the  Greek  Church  were  also  assembled  on  the 
platform  and  a  short  religious  service  was  held,  the  general  kneeling 
to  receive  the  blessing. 

A  magnificent  ikon  was  presented  him  by  the  municipality  and  the 
general  and  his  staff  partook  of  bread  and  salt,  which  is  a  well-known 
national  custom  on  important  occasions.  Before  leaving,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  mountain  district  gave  their  offering — a  sword  of  beautiful- 
workmanship.  The  general  seemed  much  touched  by  the  gift  and  made 
a  short  and  feeling  speech,  addressing  his  audience  as  "pravo-slavnie," 
a  term  seldom  used  towards  subordinates  in  autocratic  Russia. 

In  Asiatic  Russia. 

At  Ufa  an  address  was  read  to  General  Kouropatkin,  and  the  citizens- 
further  presented  him  with  an  ornament  of  jewelry,  a  species  of  charm 
which  is  worn  by  many  Russians  round  their  necks.  It  would  be 
tedious  to  individualize  the  various  stations  and  halting  places  where 
the  train  touched,  at  all  of  which  the  general  met  with  the  same  recep- 
tion, and  in  many  cases  large  sums  of  money  were  entrusted  to  him  for 
the  use  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 

At  Irkutsk,  where  the  general  halted  for  a  few  hours,  12,000  roubles 
were  given  to  hi  mfor  the  same  purpose.  Here  he  was  met  by  the 
governor-general  of  the  province,  Count  Kutosov,  who  had  a  short 
conversation  with  him,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  20th  the  journey  was 
continued  to  Lake  Baikal,  which  was  reached  about  mid-day.  Here  the 
general  alighted,  and  he  and  his  staff  proceeded  by  sledge  across  Lake 
Baikal  to  Tankoi.  The  train  was  dragged  more  slowly  across  the  lake, 
use  being  made  of  the  rails  which  had  been  laid  down  over  the  ice. 
After  leaving  Tankoi,  the  journey  was  continued  and  Chita  was  reached 
on  the  22d  at  5  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  general  arrived  at  Mukden 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  25th.    He  at  once  proceeded  to  confer  with 


THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN.  i^r 

Admiral  Alexieff,  and  later  on  left  for  Liao-yang,  where  he  took  over 
the  formal  command  of  the  Manchurian  army  from  General  Linievich. 
A  review  of  the  troops  was  held  soon  after  his  arrival,  the  general 
making  a  close  and  careful  inspection  of  all  arms. 

The  Skirmish  at  Vagenfuchu. 

On  the  morning  of  May  30  the  Russian  cavalry  opened  fire  near  the 
railroad  station  of  Vagenfuchu,  near  Vafan^ow,  against  an  advancing 
Japanese  force,  consisting  of  eight  companies  of  infantry,  eight  squad- 
rons of  cavalry,  and  four  machine  guns.  During  the  ensuing  battle  the 
Russians  attacked  a  Japanese  squadron  on  the  enemy's  left  flank,  after 
which  they  attacked  the  infantry,  but  retired  under  the  fire  of  machine 
guns.  The  advance  of  the  Japanese  infantry  on  the  Russian  left  flank 
was  stopped  by  the  fire  of  the  latter's  battery,  which  inflicted  con- 
siderable loss  on  the  enemy. 

General  Sakharoff,  in  his  official  account  of  the  action,  reported  the 
Russian  losses  at  seventeen  men  killed  and  twenty-three  wounded. 
The  Japanese  losses  were  considerable.  One  squadron  of  the  Thirteenth 
Japanese  cavalry  was  almost  annihilated  in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter, 
and  another  squadron,  which  came  to  its  assistance,  suffered  great  loss 
from  the  fire  of  the  Russian  frontier  guards  and  riflemen. 

The  Russians  began  the  battle  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
after  two  hours  and  a  half  long  range  firing  the  Japanese,  under  Gen. 
Akkiama,  prepared  to  charge  and  crush  the  force  which  had  been 
harassing  them  for  several  days.  In  the  meantime  Gen.  Samsonoff 
was  approaching  Vagenfuchu  with  a  strong  force  of  cavalry.  It  was 
a  sight  worth  seeing,  when  at  the  word  of  command  the  Russian  squad- 
rons formed  and  rushed  like  a  whirlwind  across  the  terribly  cut-up 
country,  clearing  away  all  obstacles,  the  batteries  at  the  same  time 
trotting  along  the  frightful  roads.  Having  passed  the  railroad  station 
the  troops  came  under  the  fire  of  the  Japanese  machine  guns,  but 
withdrew  without  suffering  much  loss. 


368  THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN. 

Furious  Charge  by  Cossacks. 

The  Fourth  and  Sixth  companies  of  the  Eighth  Siberian  Cossacks 
furiously  charged  the  Japanese  cavalry  with  lances,  attacking  both 
flanks.  In  a  few  minutes  they  had  nearly  cut  the  whole  squadron  into 
pieces.  In  some  cases  the  lances  pierced  ~  the  riders  through  and 
wounded  their  horses.  Some  of  the  lances  could  not  be  withdrawn  from 
the  bodies  into  which  they  had  entered. 

The  Japanese  troops  attempted  to  advance,  but  the  Russian  bat- 
teries opened  fire,  and  soon  the  slope  up  which  the  enemy  was  advanc- 
ing was  covered  with  black  spot!S,  and  the  latter  was  forced  to  scatter 
and  retire.  Some  of  the  Japanese  cavalry  were  wonderfully  dashing, 
charging  with  shouts  upon  the  Russians,  who  met  and  scattered  them. 
A  Cossack  who  had  lost  his  lance  and  sword  wrenched  a  swo'rd  from 
a  Japanese  officer  and  cut  of¥  the  latter's  head. 

A  Russian  who  was  wounded  in  the  fight  said  that  a  cornet  of  the 
frontier  guards  was  the  hero  of  the  fight.  His  sergeant  was  lying 
wounded  and  a  Japanese  officer  was  about  to  ride  over  him  when  the 
cornet  unhorsed  the  Japanese,  mounted  the  latter's  horse,  and  placed 
the  wounded  man  on  his  own  charger.  The  Japanese  cavalry  engaged 
was  the  Thirteenth  regiment.     Their  horses  were  splendid  animals. 

The  Curtain  Down  on  the  War. 

During  the  early  days  of  June  there  was  considerable  talk  of  an 
important  Russian  move  southward  from  Liaoyang.  An  unofficial  tele- 
gram from  Russian  headquarters  at  Mukden,  dated  June  i,  stated  that 
the  Russian  commander-in-chief  was  in  a  position  to  begin  offensive 
operations  on  an  important  scale.  The  lively  skirmish  at  Vafangow 
apparently  was  the  opening  action  by  a  force  sent  by  Gen.  Kouropatkin 
to  relieve  Port  Arthur,  or  to  create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  its  garrison. 
This  force  consisted  of  14,000  artillery,  cavalry  and  infantry,  under 
Gen.  Stakelberg,  who  left  Liaoyang,  with  Wanfangtien  as  his  imme- 
diate objective,  probably  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  Gen.  Oku's  rear. 

Meanwhile  the  Japanese  operations  between    Kinchou    and    Port 


V 


THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN.  369 

Arthur  were  screened  with  the  customary  secrecy.  Such  few  reports 
as  came  in  reference  to  their  doings  since  the  battle  at  Nanshan  hill 
were  based  on  rumor  or  supposition.  It  was  assumed,  from  unofficial 
reports  of  the  stream  of  troops  the  Japanese  were  still  sending  out, 
that  Gen.  Oku  would  be  given  an  overwhelming  force  to  enable  him  to 
act  independently  of  Gen.  Kuroki,  who  also  was  believed  to  be  receiv- 
ing a  considerable  proportion  of  reinforcement. 

Troops  Leave  Japan  Daily. 

Although  over  200,000  men,  more  than  400  guns,  thousands  of 
horses  and  wagons,  and  tons  of  supplies  left  Japan  during  March,  April 
and  May,  there  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  a  reduction  in  the  rate 
of  the  exodus.  Transports  left  the  western  port  daily,  each  carrying  an 
average  of  1,000  men. 

There  was  every  indication  that  this  rate  could  be  maintained  for 
months.  The  distances  comparatively  were  so  short  that  the  number 
of  transports  required  was  not  large,  while  the  available  troops,  includ- 
ing the  reserves,  were  far  from  exhausted.  The  work  went  on  without 
a  hitch.  Every  detachment  took  its  own  quota  of  guns,  ammunition 
and  stores. 

Mines  Around  Liaoyang. 

Meanwhile  the  Russians  completed  eleven  fortresses  at  Liaoyang 
and  laid  mines  within  a  radius  of  5,000  feet  from  the  town.  Gen. 
Kouropatkin's  strategy  aimed  at  checking  by  every  means  the  Jap- 
anese approach  to  Liaoyang  and  northward  to  Mukden. 

The  Chinese  army,  at  Admiral  Alexieff's  request,  engaged  to  stop 
the  constant  activity  of  the  bandits  against  the  Russians.  The  Rus- 
sians withdrew  all  Cossack  outposts  west  of  the  Liao  river,  owing  to 
the  hostility  of  the  bandits,  which,  it  is  alleged,  embraced  the  design 
to  cut  the  railway  north  of  Mukden. 

It  was  stated  at  this  time  that  the  taking  of  Kinchou  and  the  march 
of  the  Japanese  on  Port  Arthur  increased  the  misunderstanding  be- 
tween Viceroy  Alexieff  and  Gen.  Kouropatkin.     The  former,  who  had 


370  THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN. 

never  seen  active  service,  desired  Gen.  Kouropatkin  to  march  his  army 
to  the  relief  of  Port  Arthur,  but  Kouropatkin  insisted  he  should  wait  for 
reinforcements.  As  a  consequence  there  was  a  discussion  between  them 
when  they  met  at  Mukden. 

The  Leaders  Disagree. 

Alexiefif  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  saving  Port  Arthur  so  as  to 
keep  a  base  for  the  fleet  and  obviate  the  fatal  blow  its  capture  would 
inflict  on  Russian  prestige.  He  pointed  out  that  after  the  way  in 
which  the  Japanese  had  taken  Kinchou  there  was  no  guaranteeing  they 
would  not  sacrifice  an  enormous  number  of  men  to  take  Port  Arthur, 
so  the  Russian  armies,  therefore,  should  go  to  its  relief.  On  the  other 
hand,  Gen.  Kouropatkin  argued  that  the  Russian  forces  at  Liaoyang 
were  not  strong  enough  for  a  forward  movement,  having  Kuroki  in  his 
front  and  the  Japanese  army  under  General  Oku  between  him  and 
Port  Arthur. 

Meanwhile  every  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Russians  to  communicate 
with  the  southern  part  of  the  Liaotung  peninsula  resulted  in  failure. 
The  Japanese  were  in  control  of  all  avenues  of  communication  and  they 
allowed  no  messages  to  pass. 

A  Russian  officer  of  high  rank,  speaking  of  General  Kouropatkin 
at  this  time,  said: 

"He  is  awakening  to  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  are  worthy  of  praise. 
He  declares  that  their  recent  operations  prove  them  to  be  among  the 
greatest  strategists  in  the  world,  and  to  this  must  be  added  great  daring, 
capacity  for  work  and  ability  to  stand  punishment.  The  general  did 
not  believe  this  before,  but  now  it  has  been  demonstrated." 

Facts  About  the  Chunchuses. 

The  Chinese  bandits,  mention  of  whom  has  just  been  made,  are  the 
curse  of  Manchuria.  These  Chunchuses — the  word  is  a  corruption  of 
the  Chinese  "Hung  Hutzu"  (Red  Beards) — have  preyed  on  Man- 
churian  merchants  for  many  years,  deriving  their  living  from  gold- 
washing  and  occasional  raids,  together  with  a  system  known  as  brigand 


THE  CAMPAIGN  ABOUT  MUKDEN.  371 

insurance.  The  suppression  of  these  brigands  has  been  one  of  the  great 
policies  of  Russian  administration ;  but,  strange  to  say,  great  divergence 
of  opinion  exists  as  to  its  real  value. 

A  celebrated  writer,  who  knows  the  country  well,  says  that  in  all 
the  principal  towns  offices  existed  where  the  carters  or  bean  boat  skip- 
pers could  purchase  immunity,  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  which 
consisted  of  a  small  triangular  flag,  which  insured  the  carrier,  cart,  or 
boat  against  molestation  or  pillage.  Though  theoretically  reprehen- 
sible, in  practice  this  system  worked  admirably,  as  the  premium  paid 
was  not  at  all  prohibitive.  The  Russians,  by  their  expeditions  against 
the  brigands,  who  galled  them  rather  severely,  split  up  these  united 
bands  into  several  lesser  sections,  and  without  diminishing  their  num- 
bers destroyed  in  a  great  measure  their  organization,  with  the  result 
that  the  carters  and  bean  boat  skippers,  unable  to  purchase  immunity 
■ — the  flag  of  one  section  being  unrecognized  by  the  others — could  no 
longer  ply  their  trade  with  the  same  degree  of  safety  or,  in  fact,  any 
safety  at  all.  Accordingly  both  produce  and  lightstufT  were  prevented 
from  coming  forward  in  the  usual  quantities,  the  entire  trade  of  the 
province  being  disturbed.  It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  in  its  turn 
helped  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  disorganized  robbers  as,  cut  off  from 
the  legitimate  exercise  of  their  calling,  the  impoverished  agriculturists 
and  carriers  had  to  become  the  preyers  or  the  prey,  the  majority  throw- 
ing in  their  lot  with  the  former  as  yielding  better  returns. 

The  same  authority  says:  "It  is  dangerous  to  meddle  with  old- 
established  customs  in  China,  and  many  of  the  Chinese  modes  of  pro- 
cedure, theoretically  incorrect  though  they  be,  are  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  conditions  prevailing.  In  the  time  of  the  China-Japan  War  these 
Hung  Hutzu  bands  offered  the  Japanese  the  most  obstinate  resistance 
they  met  with  in  the  province.  It  will  be  a  matter  for  surprise  if  in 
the  present  war  they  do  not  materially  contribute  to  the  many  dif- 
ficulties with  which  the  Russian  forces  will  find  themselves  confronted 
in  operating  in  an  intensely  inimical  country." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE 

An  Out-post  Battle — Capture  of  Saimatze — Advance  of  the  Japanese  Army — The  Fighting 
around  Siuyen — The  Battle  of  Vafangow — Thrilling  Description  by  Eye  Witness — 
Mountain  Passes  Captured. 

THE  Russian  force  sent  to  the  relief  of  Port  Arthur  was  checked 
by  a  severe  outpost  fight  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Kinchou. 
The  Russians  held  their  position,  but  the  fact  that  their  advance  was 
checked  proved  that  the  Japanese  held  the  roads  south  with  superior 
numbers  and  that  nothing  less  than  an  advance  in  force  of  General 
Kouropatkin's  main  army  would  serve  to  relieve  the'  pressure  on  Port 
Arthur.  The  skirmish  above  recorded  took  place  June  3,  about  eigh- 
teen miles  from  General  Kouropatkin's  headquarters  at  Fengwangcheng 
and  east  of  Vafangow. 

Details  of  the  Fighting. 

The  Russian  force  consisted  of  an  infantry  regiment,  some  artillery, 
several  companies  of  Cossacks,  and  a  squad  of  dragoons.  The  enemy 
was  discovered  in  the  valley  of  Pwytsiantou.  The  Russians  brought 
up  a  battery,  opened  fire,  and  cleared  the  Japanese  out  of  the  valley. 
Then  the  Russian  guns  were  moved  to  a  move  favorable  position.  The 
Japanese,  taking  advantage  of  this,  fired  a  few  shells.  The  Russian 
losses  were  Colonel  Sereda  and  seventeen  men  wounded.  Both  sides 
retained  their  positions. 

The  other  fight  was  between  Major  General  Mistchenko's  Cossacks 
and  the  Japanese  advance  posts  along  the  river  Kolendzy,  north  of 
Takusan.  It  lasted  from  the  evening  of  June  3  till  late  the  following 
day. 

A   company  of   Cossacks   then   tried   to   cut   off  a   detachment   of 

372 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  373 

Japanese  posted  on  the  heights  of  Ladziapudsy,  but  the  enemy  brought 
up  reinforcements  and  the  Russians  were  reinforced  by  five  companies 
of  Cossacks. 

Finally  3,000  Japanese  were  engaged,  including  artillery.  The  Cos- 
sacks repeatedly  drove  the  enemy  from  their  entrenchments;  In  one 
case  the  Japanese  fled  across  the  river,  but  returned  with  more  re- 
inforcements and  the  Russians  drew  off.  The  Cossacks'  commander 
Colonel  Starkoif,  was  killed  and  two  officers  and  nine  men  were 
wounded.  The  Cossacks  carried  the  body  of  their  commander  to 
Siuyen. 

The  Russian  Account. 

Reporting  on  this  skirmish,  General  Kouropatkin,  in  a  dispatch  to 
the  war  office,  said : 

"Our  Cossacks  were  fired  upon  by  Japanese  infantry  occupying  a 
fortified  position  on  the  heights  near  of  the  village  of  Khotsiaputse, 
eighteen  miles  from  Fengwangcheng. 

"The  Cossacks  dismounted,  and,  with  the  aid  of  reinforcements 
and  the  fire  of  two  guns,  forced  the  Japanese  to  abandon  their  position 
and  retire  under  cover  of  their  supports.  The  engagement  lasted  from 
I  p.  m.  until  6  p.  m. 

"On  the  Japanese  side  six  companies  took  part,  four  havmg  ar- 
rived as  reinforcements.  The  intrenchments  of  the  enemy  were  well 
constructed  and  perfectly  masked. 

"Our  cavalry  worked  the  guns  admirably.  Their  fire  contributed 
principally  to  our  success.  Our  losses  were  the  gallant  Cossack  Chief 
StarkofT  killed,  two  officers  slightly  wounded  and  two  bruised.  The 
Japanese  losses  were  not  ascertained,  except  that  they  were  larger 
than  ours." 

Another  Version  of  the  Battle. 

According  to  one  of  the  correspondents  with  the  Russian  army,  the 
fight  in  the  valley  of  Pwytsiantou  took  place  in  an  immense  amphithe- 
atre in  the  hills.  The  Russian  commander  threw  forward  skirmshers 
to  feel  out  the  Japanese  positions.     The  Cossacks  and  dragoons  crept 


374  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

forward,  examining  the  steep  hillsides,  deep  ravines,  and  dry  water 
courses  likely  to  protect  Japanese  ambuscades. 

Finally,  the  Japanese  fire  on  the  crest  of  the  hills  located  them  and 
the  assailants  swarmed  up  almost  inaccessible  cliffs.  The  Japanese 
first  kept  in  the  shelter  of  the  rocks,  but  the  Russian  fire  searched 
them  out  and  they  flitted  shadowlike  across  the  rocks  as  the  Cossacks 
continued  to  advance,  while  the  dragoons  cleared  the  valleys  leading 
from  the  amphitheatre.  The  Japanese  cavalry  retreated,  unwilling 
to  risk  a  collision  at  close  quarters. 

The  Russian  fine  encircled  one  great  hill  on  which  was  the  prin- 
cipal Japanese  position,  and  like  a  living  ribbon,  crept  forward  toward 
the  summit.  Colonel  Sereda  led  the  advance  until  he  fell  wounded 
half  way  up  the  cliffs.  The  command  devolved  upon  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel Chicsville,  who  continued  the  forward  movement,  clearing  the 
Japanese  from  the  heights. 

In  the  meantime  a  Russian  battery  placed  an  accurate  shrapnel 
fire  among  the  hilltops,  hastening  the  Japanese  retreat.  Two  Japanese 
sharpshooters  on  the  summit  of  a  hill  seriously  annoyed  the  Russians 
at  a  critical  period  of  the  advance.  An  officer  of  Terileski's  company 
scaled  the  rocks  in  the  face  of  almost  certain  death  and  killed  both  the 
Japanese,  returning  unharmed. 

The  Capture  of  Saimatze. 

On  June  8th,  General  Kouropatkin,  in  a  telegram  to  the  Czar,  ad- 
mitted that  his  troops  had  been  driven  out  of  Saimatze  with  a  loss  of 
lOO  men  killed  or  wounded.  This  news  attracted  but  little  attention. 
All  of  official  Russia  had  eyes  and  ears  only  for  Port  Arthur.  It  was 
generally  believed  that  the  Russian  Gibraltar  was  making  its  last  des- 
perate fight  against  capture. 

Few  in  St.  Petersburg  effected  to  believe  that  Port  Arthur  could 
either  defend  itself  or  be  relieved. 

General  Kouropatkin  again  telegraphed  to  the  Emperor  as  follows; 

"A  Japanese  brigade  attacked  a  Russian  detachment  occupying 
Saimatze  on  June  7.    The  Russians  retired  slowly  because  of  the  ene- 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  375 

tny's  great  superiority  toward   Fenchulin  pass.     Our  losses  were  two 
officers  wounded  and    100  soldiers  killed  or  wounded. 

According  to  a  Liaoyang  dispatch  the  fight  was  a  stubborn  one.  The 
Russian  force  was  commanded  by  General  Erhoff,  who  engaged  the 
Japanese  advance.  The  Russian  infantry  advanced  steadily,  pushing 
the  Japanese  from  their  position,  but  their  attack  gradually  developed 
strength  and  the  Russians,  finding  themselves  in  the  presence  of  an 
overwhelming  force,  retired  in  good  order.  Their  losses  were  three 
officers  and  about  100  men  killed  or  wounded.  Russian  observers 
thought  the  Japanese  lost  more. 

Movements  of  Japanese  Armies. 

In  another  dispatch  General  Kouropatkin  gives  the  following  details 
of  the  movements  of  the  Japanese  armies : 

"Japanese  troops  are  concentrating  southward  with  a  front  extend- 
ing more  than  ten  miles  from  Pulantien  to  Fangtsiatung,  in  the  valley 
of  Tassakho. 

"A  Japanese  force  of  two  companies  of  infantry  and  a  squadron  of 
cavalry  advanced  on  June  7,  northward  from  Fengwangcheng,  into  the 
Tafanhung  district,  driving  in  the  Cossack  outposts.  A  detachment  of 
chasseurs  and  a  company  of  infantry  hastened  from  Ualindi  to  aid  the 
Cossacks.  The  Japanese  abandoned  their  attack,  having  lost  one  offi- 
cer and  a  noncommissioned  officer  captured  and  several  men  killed.  We 
had  no  casualities." 

Mikado's  Army  Begins  Advance. 

On  June  9,  the  situation  was  as  follows :  Japanese  armies  were 
advancing  in  force  on  Liaoyang  by  four  roads,  the  Russians  retreating 
at  all  points.  Japanese  troops  had  occupied  Siuyen,  and  were  pursuing 
the  Russians  along  the  road  to  Haicheng.  The  Japanese  had,  as  stated, 
occupied  Saimatze,  north  of  Fengwangcheng. 

General  Kuroki  reported  that  a  detachment  of  Japanese  troops  had 
routed  a  battalion  of  Russian  infantry  with  two  guns  at  Haimachi,  the 
Japanese  losing  three  men  killed  and  twenty-four  wounded.   The  Japan- 


376  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

ese  captured  two  officers  and  five  men.    The  Russians  left  on  the  field 
twenty-three  men  dead  or  wounded  and  probably  lost  seventy  men. 

A  Japanese  detachment  dispatched  in  the  direction  of  Tungyuanpu 
repulsed  sixty  or  seventy  of  the  enemy's  infantry  at  Linchatai  and  en- 
countered six  companies  of  Russian  infantry  and  300  cavalry  at  Chan- 
chiahsi. 

Drive  the  Russians  Away. 

After  a  two  hours'  engagement  the  Japanese  drove  the  Russians 
off  in  the  direction  of  Tungyuanpu.  The  Russian  casualities  were  sev- 
enty or  eighty  men  killed  or  wounded.  The  Japanese  lost  four  men 
killed  and  sixteen  men  wounded. 

On  June  8,  a  Japanese  detachment  co-operating  with  another  de- 
tachment from  the  force  landed  at  Takushan,  encountered  a  Russian 
force  of  4,000  cavalry,  with  six  guns,  near  Siuyen,  and  drove  them  back 
towards  Kaichou,  losing  thirteen  killed  and  two  officers  and  twenty- 
eight  men  wounded. 

A  dispatch  from  Mukden,  dated  June  10,  stated  that  General  Kuroki 
had  begun  his  forward  movement,  that  the  Japanese  had  occupied  Siu- 
yen and  Russian  scouts  had  discovered  the  Japanese  in  considerable 
force  on  the  roads  leading  toward  Haicheng  and  Liaoyang. 

The  Battle  of  Siuyen. 

General  Kouropatkin  telegraphed  to  the  Emperor  the  following  de- 
tails of  the  fighting  around  Siuyen : 

"June  7  the  Japanese  slowly  continued  their  march  toward  Siuyen 
by  the  Takushan  and  Fengwangcheng  roads.  Their  advance  guard 
did  not  approach  nearer  than  five  miles  south  and  east  of  Siuyen.  On 
the  morning  of  June  8  a  Japanese  infantry  brigade,  two  mountain  bat- 
teries, and  five  squadrons  of  cavalry  marched  against  Siuyen.  About 
II  o'clock  the  Japanese  appeared  before  the  town  on  the  south  side, 
but  were  checked  by  a  successful  fire  from  our  batteries. 

Cossacks  Compelled  to  Retire. 

"Japanese  infantry  then  began  advancing  against  the  town  from 
the  east  by  the  Fengwangcheng  road,  and  came  in  contact  with  the 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  Z77 

Cossacks  holding  the  pass.  After  two  hours'  fighting  the  Cossacks 
were  obliged  to  retire  and  our  artillery  opened  fire  along  the  pass,  not 
allowing  the  Japanese  to  establish  themselves. 

"At  this  moment  a  Japanese  mountain  battery  arrived  and  took  a 
position  to  the  south,  but  after  firing  a  few  rounds  was  silenced  by  our 
battery.  A  second  Japanese  battery  did  not  succeed  in  getting  into 
action,  but  was  compelled  to  evacuate  its  position  under  the  fire  of  our 
guns. 

"In  the  course  of  the  fight  a  flanking  movement  by  several  battalions 
of  Japanese  infantry  was  observed  northeast  of  Siuyen,  threatening  our 
hne  of  retreat.  Consequently,  our  Cossacks  gradually  withdrew  five 
miles  from  Siuyen,  keeping  up  their  fire  from  a  battery  on  a  dense  col- 
umn of  the  enemy  at  a  range  of  600  yards. 

"The  fire  slackened  about  5  in  the  afternoon.  Among  our  losses 
were  Cheremissineff,  chief  of  Cossacks,  Cornet  Komarovski,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Possokhoff.  To  all  appearances  the  Cossacks  were  en- 
gaged with  troops  of  the  Tenth  division. 

Tells  of  Saimatze  Capture. 

General  Kouropatkin  also  sent  the  following  additonal  details  of  the 
lighting  at  Saimatze : 

"On  June  7  at  6  a.  m.  an  outpost  company  on  the  Aivang  road  was 
attacked  by  the  enmy.  A  detachment  of  chasseurs  was  sent  as  a  rein- 
forcement. More  Japanese  then  appeared,  one  battalion  with  a  moun- 
tain battery  positioned  before  Saimatze. 

"The  chasseurs  at  first  pressed  the  Japanese,  inflicting  losses  and 
taking  rifles  and  equipment  from  the  killed,  but  the  advance  was  checked 
by  a  severe  fire.  Reinforcements  now  joined  the  enemy,  bringing  up 
their  strength  to  a  brigade  of  infantry,  two  batteries  of  artillery,  and 
three  squadrons  of  cavalry.  Thereupon  the  commander  of  our  detach- 
ment ordered  a  retreat  towards  Fenchulin  pass. 

**The  detachment  withdrew  slowly  and  in  good  order,  holding  suc- 
cessive positions.  Our  wounded  included  Captain  Makkaroflf  and  Lieu- 
tenant Ronjitski.    Both  Qfl&cers,  however,  remained  in  the  ranks.  About 


378  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

lOO  men  were  killed  and  wounded.  The  enemy  suffered  severly.  Ac- 
coutrements taken  from  the  Japanese  dead  show  that  thy  belonged 
to  the  Twelfth  Division." 

The  Battle  of  Telissu. 

On  June  15,  the  Russian  army  under  General  Stackelberg  attacked 
the  Japanese  forces  under  General  Oku  at  Telissu  or  Vafangow  and 
suffered  a  disastrous  defeat.  In  his  official  report  of  the  affair,  the 
Japanese  general  said  that  the  Russians  began  the  fight  with  25  bat- 
talions of  infantry,  17  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  98  guns.  They  were 
reinforced  several  times,  but  the  number  of  reinforcement-s  was  not 
known.  Seven  Russian  officers  and  300  men  were  taken  prisoners. 
The  Japanese  casualities  amounted  to  about  900  men,  including  eight 
officers  killed  and  fourteen  wounded.  The  total  Russian  losses  were 
about  3,000. 

Like  Nanshan  Hill. 

There  is  a  strong  similarity  between  the  battle  of  Nanshan  Hill, 
also  won  by  General  Oku,  and  the  one  at  Telissu.  At  Telissu  the 
Japanese  had  to  drive  the  Russians  from  the  hills,  while  at  Nanshan 
the  enemy  occupied  one  hill.  The  Russian  position  at  Telissu  was 
superior  to  that  of  the  Japanese  and  equalized  the  advantage  of  the 
Japanese  in  having  a  larger  force. 

The  Russian  position  extended  from  east  to  west  and  crossed  the 
narrow  valley  through  which  run  the  Foochou  river  and  the  railway. 
From  their  positions  on  the  right  and  left  in  the  high  hills  which  flank 
this  valley  General  Oku  drove  the  Russians  down  into  the  valley.  The 
Japanese  general  carried  first  the  enemy's  right  and  then  his  left. 

The  fight  at  the  left  of  his  line  was  the  most  desperate  of  the  day. 
The  Russians  held  this  position  with  desperate  determination,  and  only 
fled  when  they  were  almost  completely  enveloped.  The  field  had  been 
disputed  all  day,  and  when  the  Japanese  reached  it  600  of  the  enemy's 
dead  were  found  there. 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  379 

How  Jap  Advance  Began. 

General  Oku  started  from  a  line  marked  by  Pulandien,  and  the  Tassa 
Tiver  on  Monday,  June  13.  His  right  column  moved  along  the  Tassa 
fiver,  his  main  column  along  the  railroad,  and  his  left  column  by  a  road 
leading  through  Wuchiatun,  Suchuankon,  and  Tahoai. 

The  Japanese  cavalry  started  from  Pitsewo  over  a  road  leading 
through  Shunzo,  and  the  small  bodies  of  Russians  opposing  this  advance 
were  brushed  away.  The  left  column  reached  Nachialing  on  June  14, 
and  the  main,  or  middle,  column,  and  the  right  column,  keeping  in  touch 
with  each  other,  reached  a  line  between  Chiachiatun  and  Tapingkou, 
seven  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Telissu,  the  same  day. 

Opens  With  Artillery  Duel. 

The  Russian  forces  then  held  a  line  between  Tafangshen  and  Lung- 
"wangtiao.  The  entire  Japanese  line  advanced  and  at  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  Japanese  artillery  opened  fire.  The  Russians  had  ninety- 
eight  guns  and  they  replied  with  spirit  until  darkness  put  an  end  to  the 
-artillery  duel. 

During  the  night  of  the  14th,  under  cover  of  darkness,  the  Japanese 
right  column  seized  a  hill  between  Tsongchiotun  and  Wengchiantung 
^nd  the  middle  column  occupied  a  hill  to  the  west  of  Tapingkou. 

Wednesday  morning  was  foggy.  The  Japanese  center's  artillery 
opened  at  5  130  a  fierce  duel  with  the  Russian  left  center,  north  of  the 
Foochou  river.  After  fierce  fighting  the  Russians  were  compelled  to 
fall  back  slightly. 

Japs  Storm  the  Heights. 

Meanwhile  a  detachment  of  infantry  and  artillery  had  been  hasten- 
ing since  dawn  along  the  Foochou  road.  At  9:30  o'clock  this  detach- 
ment occupied  the  heights  west  of  the  Japanese  left  center,  and  co- 
operating with  it  despite  a  galling  cannonade  from  the  Russian  heights, 
charged  through  the  defiles  and  scaled  the  hills,  driving  the  Russians 
from  their  position  at  Tafangshen. 

While  this  movement  was  being  carried  out  the  Russians  fiercely 


38o  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

attacked  the  Japanese  right.  It  was  necessary  to  reinforce  the  Japanese 
right  twice  from  the  reserves. 

In  the  meantime  the  Japanese  right  was  suffering.  The  Russian 
left  had  been  reinforced  until  their  numbers  were  greater  than  the  op- 
posing Japanese.  General  Oku  was  twice  forced  to  order  up  the  in- 
fantry reserves. 

The  Russians  made  a  series  of  desperate  counter  attacks,  but  when 
the  situation  was  most  critical  the  Japanese  cavalry  swung  around  the 
Russian  left  and  struck  the  enemy  on  the  flank. 

At  this  time  additional  Russian  reinforcements  had  arrived  and  the 
Russians  held  their  position  with  dogged  determination  until  their 
front  and  both  flanks  were  under  fire.  They  then  broke  and  fled.  The 
Japanese  cavalry  pursued  the  enemy  for  a  short  time,  but  the  rough- 
ness of  the  country  made  it  necessary  soon  to  abandon  the  pursuit. 

The  Japanese  left  succeeded  in  ambushing  900  Russian  infantrymen, 
who  were  discovered  retiring  toward  Wuchiatun.  They  sent  two  com- 
panies of  infantry  and  one  battery  of  artillery  to  a  hill  east  of  Hongchia- 
tun,  and  the  Russians  were  completely  trapped.  Many  of  the  enemy  at 
this  point  were  killed  or  wounded. 

The  Russians  left  600  dead  and  wounded  in  front  of  the  Japanese 
right.  Russian  prisoners  report  that  the  commander  of  their  first  divi- 
sion was  seriously  wounded  and  the  commander  of  the  first  regiment 
killed.  They  also  state  that  the  commander  of  the  army  corps  and 
of  the  second  and  third  regiments  were  wounded. 

Russian  Story  of  the  Battle. 

Further  details  of  the  fighting  showed  that  the  Russian  advance 
on  the  Japanese  position,  when  it  was  hoped  that  General  Stackelberg 
would  drive  back  the  Japanese  army,  was  a  most  brilliant  affair. 

Soon  after  dawn  the  Japanese  were  discovered  in  strong  force  on  a 
hill  north  of  Dyaiwo.  The  infantry  was  well  intrenched  and  supported 
by  artillery. 

Then  the  Russian  left  was  thrown  forward  with  reserves  to  clear  the 
hill.   They  had  a  little  over  a  mile  of  open  country  to  cross,  their  only 


,    CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  381 

cover  being  two  small  hills  and  two  shallow  valleys.    The  Japanese  con- 
centrated a  deadly  fire  as  soon  as  the  Russians  reached  the  open. 

The  Russians  formed  in  open  order  and  rushed  from  point  to  point, 
taking  advantage  of  every  depression  in  the  ground,  dropping  and  firing, 
then  advancing  again,  until  they  gained  a  hill  where  they  halted  for  a 
breathing  space. 

Deadly  Japanese  Shrapnel. 

Over  the  hill  the  Japanese  threw  shrapnel  which  burst  with  deadly 
effect.  Some  squadrons  had  every  officer  killed  and  half  their  men 
wounded. 

In  spite  of  the  terrible  punishment  inflicted,  one  regiment  gained 
the  hill  where  the  Japanese  were  intrenched.  The  sixth  company  of 
the  Third  regiment  got  a  rain  of  shells  and  shrapnel,  concentrated  there 
by  the  Japanese  batteries. 

The  Japanese  heavy  guns  silenced  the  artillery  supporting  the  Rus- 
sian attack.  Thirteen  Russian  guns  were  smashed  to  atoms  and  their 
horses  killed.  A  majority  of  their  gunners  were  killed  or  wounded. 
The  guns  were  useless  to  the  Japanese,  as  they  were  literally  shot  to 
pieces  before  they  were  abandoned.  The  remainder  of  the  artillery 
retired  to  Vafangow. 

The  Japanese  at  this  moment  delivered  their  main  attack.  A  whole 
division  was  thrown  against  the  Russian  center  and  two  divisions  around 
the  right  flank. 

The  hard  pressed  right  held  out  until  11  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
when  two  regiments  rushed  to  its  assistance. 

The  whole  force  then  advanced  to  within  twenty  paces  of  the  Japan- 
ese intrenchments.  They  lost  all  their  officers  and  half  of  the  men. 
Captain  Hasken  was  the  last  to  fall.    He  was  shot  through  the  stomach. 

The  men  lay  panting  under  the  Japanese  trenches  and  out  of  range 
of  their  fire.  The  Japanese  raised  themselves  over  the  trenches  and 
fired,  the  Russians  greeting  the  hail  of  shots  with  chaff,  and  the  Jap- 
anese, angry  at  their  inability  to  dislodge  the  attackers,  threw  stones 
at  them. 


382  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

Fighting  Hand  to  Hand. 

The  battle  then  became  a  hand  to  hand  fight  with  stones  and  gun 
butts,  and  the  remainder  of  the  Russians,  taking  advantage  of  this- 
diversion,  gained  the  shelter  of  a  neighboring  ravine,  but  were  unable 
to  hold  the  position  in  the  face  of  the  cheering  and  actually  rolled  back 
the  Japanese  advance,  but  General  Nodzu  poured  in  fresh  troops,  regi- 
ment after  regiment.  The  Russian  commander  saw  that  he  was  being 
enveloped  and  rallied  his  reserves  and  retired  in  order. 

A  correspondent  who  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Vafangow  de- 
scribed the  fighting  as  follows : 

"The  stern,  dogged  fighting  at  the  battle  of  Vafangow  was  like  an- 
other Borodino.  The  roar  of  the  machine  guns  and  the  boom  of  the^ 
cannon  still  ring  in  one's  ears. 

"Throughout  the  three  days  of  combat  the  officers  and  men  vied 
with  each  other  in  pluck  and  heroism.  They  have  added  a  glorious 
page  to  Russia's  military  history. 

"The  enemy's  advance  originally  included  the  Fifth,  Eighth,  and 
Eleventh  divisions,  twelve  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  splendid  artillery.- 

Japs  Had  200  Guns. 

"About  200  guns  were  belching  a  continuous  stream  of  shot  and 
shell.  Large  reinforcements  enabled  them  to  turn  the  Russian  flanks. 
A  diversion  on  the  right  precipitated  the  battle  in  the  morning  of 
June  15. 

"Major  General  Gerngross,  who  was  wounded,  commanded  the  left 
flank,  and  General  Loutchkovsky  commanded  the  center,  including  four 
battalions  concealed  in  a  small  wood,  whence  they  dealt  death  and 
destruction  on  the  enemy.  The  Russian  right  was  protected  by  Cos- 
sacks, dragoons,  and  Siberian  rifles. 

"While  these  big  guns  were  thundering  I  made  my  way  at  about  11 
o'clock  a.  m.  to  the  Russian  right  flank  and  climbed  a  hill,  whence  I 
could  view  the  whole  field  of  battle. 

"Then  black  lines  of  infantry  like  thread  could  be  seen  creeping" 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  38^ 

through  tne  verdure.  Nearer,  the  slope  of  a  hill  was  dotted  by  the  gray 
shirts  of  the  Russian  riflemen.  A  brownish  smoke  overhung  some  of 
the  batteries  and  others  showed  flashes  of  flame.  The  crackle  of  rifle 
fire  was  punctuated  by  the  roar  of  guns.  Occasionally  I  heard  the  hiss 
of  a  Japanese  bullet. 

'T  saw  reserves  hurrying  forward,  the  Cossacks  galloping,  followed 
by  columns  of  infantry  at  the  double.  Suddenly  they  disappeared  in 
an  adjacent  defile.  The  valley  where  the  Russians  had  camped  was 
emptied  as  if  by  magic.  Rattling  volleys  were  fired  behind  the  screen 
of  hills  which  concealed  the  fighting  troops  from  view  in  that  direction, 
the  sound  of  the  firing  being  the  only  evidence  of  the  deadly  struggle 
proceeding  there.     This  continued  for  half  an  hour. 

Cossacks  Lead  Russian  Retreat. 

"Suddenly  a  company  of  Cossacks  appeared  on  the  crest  of  a  hill 
and  began  to  descend.  They  were  followed  by  infantry.  The  Japanese 
gunners  promptly  pursued  them  with  shrapnel.  Horses  and  men  began 
falling. 

"A  moment  of  harrowing  suspense  was  relieved  by  a  thunderous 
shout  of  'Hurrah!' 

"It  was  from  a  couple  of  thousand  of  Russian  troops  just  brought 
up  by  a  train.  They  quickly  jumped  from  the  cars,  fixed  bayonets,, 
and  literally  ran  into  the  fight. 

"Again  the  crackle  of  musketry  under  cover,  during  which  the  re- 
tiring Russian  regiments  formed  up  and  moved  ofY  in  complete  order 
toward  the  railroad.  While  a  long  line  of  commissariat  wagons,  es- 
corted by  Cossacks,  took  to  the  road  a  battery  of  horse  artillery  sta- 
tioned near  the  railroad  banged  away  furiously  as  it  covered  the  retreat. 
The  Japanese  shells  were  falling  on  the  station  buildings,  from  which 
train  after  train  had  moved. 

Main  Russian  Army  Withdraws. 

"I  descended  the  hill  and  just  succeeded  in  jumping  on  the  footboard 
of  the  last  car.     Some  of  the  Russian  batteries  on  the  left  flank  were 


384  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

still  firing.  The  main  force  then  began  slowly  to  retreat  towards  Van- 
tsialin,  thirty  miles  north  of  Vafangow,  and  at  about  i  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  had  accomplished  its  strategic  mission.  The  battle  of  Vafan- 
gow had  deflected  a  considerable  Japanese  force  from  Port  Arthur. 

"Many  Russians  have  fallen,  but  a  greater  number  of  Japanese  were 
killed.  The  Russian  shells  and  bullets  mowed  them  down  like  wheat. 
The  whole  valley  was  bestrewn  with  the  corpses  and  the  River  Tassa 
ran  red.     But  it  was  with  Japanese  more  than  with  Russian  blood." 

Russians  Nearly  Trapped. 

According  to  military  experts  the  forces  of  General  Kouropatkin 
were  now  hopelessly  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  Japanese  strategy.  The 
General  took  the  field  in  person  to  lead  the  main  part  of  his  troops 
against  the  army  advancing  upon  Liaoyang  from  the  south.  On  his 
front  Kouropatkin  faced  twelve  divisions  of  Japanese  troops — 144,000 
men — on  his  left,  another  army  occupied  Kuandiansian  with  at  least 
eighteen  guns;  this  point  is  located  northeast  of  Liaoyang,  Kouro- 
patkin was  thus  forced  against  his  inclination  to  fight  nearly  all  of  his 
army  against  a  superior  force  on  his  front  and  another  on  his  flank. 
The  announcement  at  Tokio  that  Field  Marshal  Oyama  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  the  supreme  command  of  all  the  Japanese  armies  with  Gen- 
eral Kodama  as  his  chief  of  staff,  indicated  that  the  months  of  prepara- 
tion had  ended  and  the  real  campaign  was  about  to  begin. 

On  June  23,  General  Kouropatkin  notified  the  Emperor  that  the 
Japanese  army  was  advancing  on  Kaichou  in  force  and  that  the  enemy 
had  occupied  Kuandiansian  and  Sapenhai,  and  that  they  held  Senuchen, 
on  the  road  to  Kaichou,  with  more  than  a  division  of  infantry,  a  brigade 
of  artillery  and  32  guns.  The  Japanese  having  occupied  Siungyoshaw 
were  within  25  miles  of  Kaichou.  General  Kouropatkin's  official  repori 
to  the  Czar,  with  dispatches  from  General  SakharofF,  follows : 

"A  Japanese  army  from  Kaichou  is  gradually  advancing  northward. 
General  Kuroki's  advance  from  Siuyen  has  been  suspended,  evidently 
io  effect  an  alignment  of  the  two  armies. 

"The  strength  of  the  enemy's  vanguard  is  approximately  a  division 


,*    -I*: 


fii 


DEATH  TO   THE  SPY 

The  Japanese  found  it  necessary  to  establish  martial  law  in  Korea,  and  the  aboT© 
picture  represents  the  execution  of  a  Korean  spy,  who  had  given  information  to  the  Rus- 
sians. Japan  has  as  a  rule,  however,  made  her  influence  dominant  throughout  the  couD|ry 
bv  peaceful  measures.     The  people  were  won  over  until  their  cooperation  was  spontaneous. 


RUSSIAN  PRISONERS 

The  above  very  striking  picture  represents  a  detachment  of  Cossack  prisoners 
guarded  by  their  little  Japanese  captors.  The  desire  of  the  Japanese  to  appear  thoroughly 
v\l3stern  was  very  evident  in  the  care  they  took  of  their  prisoners,  and  Russian  captives 
were  unstinted  in  their  praise  of  the  kindness  with  which  they  were  treated. 


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CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  385 

and  several  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  the  Siuyen  force  of  nine  squadrons, 
supported  by  a  strong  column  of  infantry  toward  the  south. 

"The  enemy's  position  on  June  19  and  June  21  extended  within 
seven  miles  southward  to  Senuchen  along  a  line  from  the  sea  to  the 
mountainous  and  difficult  district  east  of  the  railway. 

Japs  Hold  Mountain  Passes. 

"The  enemy's  advance  lines  are  being  strongly  held  by  cavalry  and 
a  screen  of  infantry.  The  passes  and  defiles  in  the  mountains  east  of 
the  railway  are  also  vigilantly  guarded. 

"A  movement  of  strong  Japanese  mounted  patrols  with  infantry 
supports  was  noted  June  20  from  five  in  the  afternoon  until  dark.  We 
had  no  losses  in  the  firing  which  ensued,  while  the  Japanese  had  several 
killed  and  wounded. 

"An  increase  in  the  Japanese  forces  has  been  noticed  south  of  Van- 
fiapudze  and  near  the  villages  of  Manzeapudze,  Takziapudze,  and  Kha- 
kahei.  Reinforcements  are  also  reaching  the  Japanese  at  the  furthest 
point  of  the  road  between  Siuyen  and  Tanchi  via  Paiahaniou  and  Siak- 
hotan. 

Erecting  Field  Defense. 

"The  Japanese  are  directing  field  fortifications  on  the  road  from 
Siuyen  to  Kaichou.  The  enemy's  outposts  have  occupied  the  pass  be- 
tween Pangrabsi  and  Paichang,  on  the  northern  road,  nine  and  a  half 
miles  east  of  Siakhotan  and  the  Chapan  pass,  seven  and  a  half  miles 
south  of  Siakhotan.  Oh  June  19  two  Cossacks  were  w^ounded  by  Chi- 
nese ruffians. 

"The  Japanese  have  fortified  Kuandiansian,  mounting  eighteen  guns, 
■with  a  strong  screen.  The  enemy  has  occupied  the  village  of  Sai>enhai, 
twenty-five  miles  northeast  of  Saimatze,  and  is  firmly  intrenched." 

Tells  of  Jap  Advance. 

The  general  staff  received  the  following  dispatch  from  Lieutenant 
General  Sakharoff  under  date  of  June  22: 

"At  8  o'clock  on  the  morning  oi  June  21   the  Japanese  vanguard 


386  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

resumed  its  advance  against  our  outposts  four  miles  south  of  Senuchen. 
The  outposts  retired  slowly  towards  Senuchen  and  farther  on  in  the 
direction  of  Kaichou. 

"At  noon  a  Japanese  column  consisting-  of  nine  squadrons  of  cav- 
alry, a  battery  of  artillery,  and  a  considerable  number  of  infantry,  was 
observed  advancing  in  the  direction  of  Senuchen.  Other  strong  col- 
umns of  the  enemy  appeared  and  the  Japanese  occupied  Senuchen  to- 
wards evening  with  over  a  division  of  infantry,  a  brigade  of  cavalry, 
and  thirty-two  guns. 

Japs  Hold  Two  Passes. 

"According  to  information  received  from  our  scouts  and  the  inhabi- 
tants,  the  enemy  over  a  division  strong  is  concentrated  southwards  of 
Chapan  pass  near  Changtaitien  and  Longliatien. 

"The  Japanese  did  not  advance  beyond  Chapan  pass  in  the  direction 
of  Tanchi  and  the  enemy  on  the  morning  of  the  22d  had  not  occupied 
the  pass  between  Paitsiapei  and  Panchingine  on  the  Siuyenliahotang 
road. 

Russians  Nearly  Surprised. 

"Our  scouts  report  that  a  large  detachment  of  all  arms  advanced 
from  Siuyen  to  Khranza  on  the  morning  of  June  22.  A  battalion  of 
the  enemy  taking  advantage  of  a  thick  fog  tried  to  surprise  our  van- 
guard near  Vandiapudze,  on  the  road  from  Siuyen  to  Haicheng. 

"The  movement  was  discovered  in  time  and  the  Japanese  received 
volleys  from  five  companies  of  Russians.  The  enemy  retired  with  some 
losses  towards  Siuyen.     One  Russian  sharpshooter  was  wounded. 

"The  Japanese  occupied  Vafangtien,  on  the  main  road  to  Liaoyang,. 
on  the  evening  of  June  19  with  a  battalion  of  infantry  and  a'squadroa 
of  cavalry.  A  detachment  of  the  same  strength  occupied  Chandinju, 
in  the  valley  of  the  Tsuo  river,  seven  miles  north  of  Fengwangcheng." 

"The  occupation  of  Siungyoshan  by  a  Japanese  detachment  indicates 
that  the  connection  between  the  enemy's  armies  is  practically  assured. 
Siungyoshan  is  half  way  between  General  Oku's  and  General  Kuroki's 
positions,  at  Senuchen  and  Siuyen,  respectively." 
c 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  387 

On  July  I,  came  the  news  that  the  Japanese  armies  had  captured 
Ta  pass,  northeast  of  Liaoyang;  Motien  pass  and  Fenshui  pass,  directly 
east.  According  to  military  observers  the  object  of  this  movement  on 
the  part  of  the  Japanese  armies  was  to  be  able  to  cut  the  railroad  north 
of  Liaoyang  and  at  the  same  time  hold  the  Russian  forces  in  check 
while  the  army  advancing  westward  from  Fenshui  and  Motien  pass 
would  be  able  to  strike  Liaoyang. 

The  details  of  the  capture  of  Fenshui  pass  are  as  follows:  On  June 
26,  the  Toyo  detachment  of  the  Japanese  army  attacked  the  eastern 
line  of  the  Russian  troops  and  from  daylight  to  darkness  the  operations 
were  carried  on.  As  night  came  on  the  Japanese  soldiers  went  into 
camp,  but  at  midnight  they  resumed  the  attack,  defeated  the  enemy 
and  occupied  the  Russian  position.  On  the  following  day  the  Russian 
forces,  having  been  reinforced,  attempted  to  take  the  position,  but  were 
again  repulsed. 

Fearful  Sacrifice  of  Life. 

The  Marui  detachment  of  the  Japanese  army,  on  the  evening  of  the 
26th,  attacked  the  Russian  rear  and  flank.  On  the  morning  of  the 
27th,  the  main  body  of  the  Japanese  troops  routed  two  battalions  of  the 
enemy's  infantry  and  occupied  Fenshui  pass.  The  Asada  detachment 
which  had  defeated  2,000  Russian  infantry  and  cavalry  on  the  evening  of 
the  26th,  remained  under  arms  at  the  eastern  foot  of  the  pass  until  the 
following  morning,  when  the  Russian  artillery,  having  been  silenced, 
they  stormed  and  captured  the  enemy's  position.  The  Japanese  casual- 
ties were  1,170  killed  and  wounded;  the  Russian  loss  was  considerably 
less  owing  to  the  fact  of  their  strongly  intrenched  positions. 

On  June  29,  General  Kouropatkin  sent  the  following  dispatch  to  the 
Czar: 

"Towards  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  June  27,  our  troops,  having 
dislodged  the  enemy's  advance  guard,  composed  of  cavalry  and  infantry, 
occupied  the  station  of  Senuchen,  but  at  9  o'clock  it  was  discovered  that 
a  brigade  of  the  enemy's  infantry  was  advancing  in  front,  while  other 
columns  were  turning  our  detachment's  left  flank. 


388  CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE. 

"The  town  of  Senuchen,  which  is  surrounded  by  walls,  was  also 
occupied  by  the  Japanese.  Consequently  at  1 1  o'clock  our  troops  slowly 
withdrew. 

Officers  Lost  in  Reconnoissance. 

"A  reconnoissance  carried  out  on  the  road  from  Siakhotung  to  Erl- 
tatan  and  Khanza  revealed  the  presence  of  six  companies  of  the  enemy's 
infantry  and  two  squadrons  of  cavalry  at  Mayaratsa,  three  miles  south- 
east of  Siakhotung.  In  his  reconnoissance  Captain  Vassillioflf,  Lieu- 
tenant Makarofif,  and  five  Cossacks  were  wounded.  Makaroff  suc- 
cumbed. 

"There  was  some  skirmishing  June  25  between  the  enemy  and  our 
outposts  at  Samiarlkau  and  Wangtsiafangching,  five  miles  west  of 
Samiarlkau. 

"At  4  in  the  morning,  June  26,  a  detachment  of  the  enemy,  nearly 
an  infantry  brigade,  with  two  batteries,  occupied  Santiao,  firing  on  our 
vanposts  occupying  Black  Mount,  south  of  Siakhotung.  Our  three 
companies  firmly  held  their  ground  until  reinforced.  At  6  a.  m.  a  bat- 
tery of  Cossacks  and  a  mounted  mountain  battery  took  up  a  position 
and.  opened  fire  on  the  front  and  flank  of  a  Japanese  battery  and  dense 
columns  of  infantry  which  had  appeared  against  our  left. 

Japs  Lose  a  Skirmish. 

"At  I  in  the  afternoon  the  Japanese  began  to  retire,  pressed  by 
•ur  troops,  who  had  assumed  the  offensive  and  pursued  the  enemy  as 
far  as  Santiao.  Our  losses  were  six  soldiers  killed,  and^  two  officers 
and  thirty-three  men  wounded. 

"The  battle  recommenced  at  Siakhotung  at  6  in  the  morning.  A 
Cossack  battery  and  a  mounted  battery  repeatedly  pursued  the  enemy's 
infantry  and  silenced   the  Japanese  batteries. 

"A  section  of  our  infantry  repulsed  the  Japanese  on  our  right,  we 
counter  attacking;  the  fighting  ceased  at  five.  A  section  of  the  Eleventh 
horse  battery,  which  participated  in  the  fighting,  astonished  everybody 
by  its  gallantry  in  pushing  on  so  far  as  the  Shanhai  pass,  and  holding 


CHECKING  THE  RUSSIAN  ADVANCE.  389 

its  own  against  eight  of  the  enemy's  guns  until  its  ammunition  was 
exhausted. 

"Our  losses  have  not  been  ascertained  definitely,  but  they  are  re- 
ported not  to  exceed  fifty  men  and  twenty  horses. 

"A  battalion  and  a  squadron  of  the  Japanese  vanguard,  June  26, 
operating  north  of  the  Siuyenkaichou  road,  occupied  Cheliuangtien, 
four  miles  northeast  of  Siakhotung. 

Japs  Capture  Ta  Pass. 

"A  concentration,  towards  evening,  of  twenty-six  Japanese  battal- 
ions was  observed  near  the  village  of  Wangtsiaputse,  on  the  road  from 
Siuyen  to  Haicheng. 

"From  the  morning  of  June  ^y  the  Japanese  developed  a  frontal 
attack  against  our  troops  in  Ta  Pass,  simultaneously  turning  our  right 
with  at  least  a  division  of  infantry  and  three  field  batteries.  The  fight 
lasted  until  7  40  in  the  evening.  In  view  of  the  enemy's  great  strength 
and  the  turning  movement  our  troops  retired  slowly  from  the  pass. 
The  enemy  did  not  advance.  Our  losses  are  undetermined,  but  are 
estimated  at  about  200. 

"On  June  26  the  enemy  continued  to  advance  from  Fenshui  and 
Motien  passes  frontally  and  flanking.  At  least  eight  battalions  an4 
ten  guns  were  concentrated  against  Motien  pass. 

"At  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  enemy  occupied  Kautia  pass,  o« 
the  Liaoyang  main  road. 

"Since  June  25  the  Japanese  have  been  advancing  their  right,  occu- 
pying Saimatsze  the  morning  of  June  26,  three  companies  advancing 
beyond.  At  first  they  forced  back  the  Cossacks,  but  subsequently  the 
Japanese  were  repulsed." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
RUSSIAN   ARMY  NEARLY   TRAPPED 

Objective  Point  of  the  Japanese  Army — The  Capture  of  Kaichou — Haicheng  the  Goal— 
A  Sanguinary  Conflict — Motion  Pass — Official  Beports  of  the  Engagement — ^A  Russian 
Rout— A  Decisive  Victory — Yangze  Pass — Death  of  General  Keller. 

IN  THE  early  days  of  July  dispatches  from  the  seat  of  war  stated 
that  the  armies  of  the  Czar  and  Mikado,  almost  within  striking 
distance,  were  stalled  in  seas  of  mud.  The  rainy  season  had  set  in  and 
there  was  only  desultory  fighting  from  time  to  time.  General  Kouro- 
patkin  was  at  Tatchekiao  and  the  Japanese  forces  were  at  Senuchen 
and  along  the  roads  from  Siuyen  to  Haicheng  and  Kaichou.  Under 
date  of  July  7th  a  dispatch  from  Liaoyang  reported  considerable  fight- 
ing in  that  neighborhood,  and  according  to  the  views  of  the  war  corre- 
spondents at  the  front,  the  Japanese  object  was  to  cut  off  Mukden. 

Japanese  Activity  Continuous. 

On  July  II,  the  following  dispatch  from  St.  Petersburg  indicated 
persistent  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese: 

"General  Kouropatkin,  according  to  private  advices  from  the  front, 
will  not  make  a  serious  attempt  to  hold  Tatchekiao,  above  Kaichou, 
midway  between  that  place  and  Haicheng,  and  where  the  railroad  con- 
nects with  the  branch  from  Newchwang. 

"Developments  of  the  Japanese  strength  on  the  Siuyen  roads  seem 
to  be  forcing  a  Russian  concentration  between  Haicheng  and  Liaoyang, 
but  preparations  seem  to  be  making  to  defend  the  former  as  long  as 
possible. 

"General  Count  Keller's  force,  which  was  a  little  southwest  of  Liao- 
yang, has  apparently  moved  farther  southward,  to  stay  the  advance  of 
the  Japanese  direct  from  the  road  between  Fengwangcheng  and  Hai- 
cheng." 

390 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  391 

"The  pressure  on  the  Russian  left  rear  as  it  withdraws  continues. 

There  is  now  practically  nothing  in  the  way  of  Japanese  occupation  of 

Newchwang  and  the  completion  of  the  Japanese  line  across  the  head 

of  the  Liaotung  peninsula.     The  fortification  of  the  passes  of  the  Fen- 

shui  range  and  the  semi-circle  eastward  of  Liaoyang  is  reported. 

"With  pressure  on  two  sides,  if  the  Japanese  have  any  serious  in- 
tentions of  pushing  home  their  advance  in  the  direction  of  Mukden, 
General   Kouropatkin's  position  would   seem   decidedly   dangerous. 

Opportunities  for  Flanking. 

"Whether  the  Japanese  operations  north  will  be  pressed  in  the  face 
of  the  rainy  season,  which  is  not  regarded  as  probable,  the  Japanese 
seem  assured  of  the  command  of  the  mouth  of  the  Liao  river  valley, 
which  will  give  them  a  new  base  with  two  railroads,  one  direct  to  Muk- 
den, and  the  other  to  the  Sinminting  river  and  the  imperial  high  road. 
The  Sinminting  road  opens  vast  possibilities  for  flanking  if  an  advance 
is  begun  at  the  end  of  the  rains. 

"Severe  fighting  is  not  improbable  north  of  Tatchekiao,  but  the  be- 
lief is  growing  that  Kouropatkin  does  not  intend  to  accept  a  general 
engagement  at  this  time,  even  if  challenged. 

Oku*s  Advance  Continues. 

r 

"Meantime  General  Oku's  advance  continues.  His  main  force, 
which  the  general  stafY  believes  to  be  almost  60,000  strong,  was  yes- 
terday about  five  miles  north  of  Kaichou.  His  skirmishers  were  about 
three  miles  further  north.  The  Japanese  cavalry  is  proceeding  to  New- 
chwang, and  a  heavy  force  of  Japanese  is  converging  upon  Siadiamaf, 
halfway  to  Tatchekiao,  on  the  Siuyen  road.  The  sentiments  of  the 
general  staff  foreshadow  an  engagement  at  Haicheng." 

Japs  Pursue  Russians. 

On  July  9,  a  Russian  correspondent  who  arrived  at  Tatchekiao  sent 
the  following  account  of  the  capture  of  Kaichou  with  the  Russian  rear- 
guard after  a  running  fight  from  Kaichou: 


392  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

"We  evacuated  Kaichou  today,  after  a  fight  lasting  throughout 
Friday.  We  made  a  short  stand  at  Pintzan,  seven  miles  north  of  Kai- 
chou. The  Japanese  kept  on  our  heels,  and  there  were  constant  ex- 
changes between  the  Russian  and  Japanese  batteries.  The  Japanese 
advance  stopped  eight  miles  south  of  here.  The  fighting  along  the 
road  was  lively,  but  our  losses  were  small. 

"There  had  been  preliminary  skirmishing  and  maneuvering  for  po- 
sition around  Kaichou  since  July  5.  On  that  day  two  companies  were 
caught  in  the  hills  to  the  eastward  and  surrounded  by  six  Japanese 
battalions.  They  cut  their  way  out,  however,  and  returned  to  Kaichou, 
bringing  many  wounded. 

"On  the  morning  of  July  6  our  scouts  reported  that  a  strong  Japanese 
force  was  taking  up  a  position  in  the  hills  to  the  southeast. 

"E^rly  in  the  morning  of  July  8  the  hills  to  the  southward 
and  eastward  of  Kaichou  were  apparently  deserted,  but  we  were  aware 
that  the  Japanese  were  ready  to  spring.  We  had  destroyed  the  railway 
bridge  south  of  the  town  and  had  a  strong  line  of  rifle  pits  along  the 
bank  of  the  river. 

"It  was  a  brilliant  morning.  The  Japanese  began  to  advance  from 
the  defiles,  where  they  were  concealed,  and,  taking  cover  behind  thick 
trees  and  in  the  gardens  south  of  the  river,  kept  their  batteries  on  the 
hilltops  carefully  masked. 

Russians  Are  Outflanked. 

"While  the  Japanese  crept  forward  100  yards,  keeping  up  a  fierce 
exchange  with  our  riflemen,  another  column  started  to  work  around 
our  left  through  a  deep  valley.  The  sound  of  a  heavy  rifle  fire  at  the 
railway  station  told  us  that  the  column  had  struck  our  outposts.  Then 
our  battery  behind  the  station  opened  fire  and  the  advance  in  that 
direction  was  checked. 

"We  had  a  squadron  of  cavalry  and  a  battalion  of  infantry  across 
the  river,  and  through  the.  golden  haze  we  could  just  see  them  maneu- 
vering to  meet  the  Japanese  column,  which  they  engaged  fiercely.  The 
Japanese  finally  rolled  back. 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  393 

Night  Ends  First  Fight. 

"In  the  meantime  the  Japanese  cavalry  on  the  extreme  west  tried 
to  creep  around  the  shore  of  the  gulf  of  Liaotung,  but  our  batteries 
headed  off  the  cavalrymen  and  drove  them  in  confusion.  By  noon  the 
advance  was  checked  at  all  points,  though  growing  numbers  of  Japanese 
were  seen  gathering  in  the  hills  and  their  batteries  threw  an  occasional 
shot. 

"Both. sides  held  their  respective  positions  through  the  warm,  starlit 
night.  Japanese  reserves  were  hurrying  up  and  concentrating  for  a 
inorning  attack,  but  we  had  held  out  as  long  as  advisable  in  the  face 
of  the  growing  number  of  the  enemy,  and  quietly  prepared  to  evacuate. 

"The  Japanese  advance  commenced  at  dawn,  at  first  quietly  and 
cautiously,  and  then  with  a  rush  thirty-five  infantry  companies  hurled 
themselves  across  the  river.  They  must  have  been  surprised  to  find 
themselves  unopposed  and  greeted  only  by  the  smoke  of  the  warehouses 
which  we  had  set  on  fire  before  retiring. 

"Our  batteries  had  got  away  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Japanese,^ 
and  were  in  a  position  north  of  the  town,  from  which  they  greeted  the 
enemy  with  a  hail  of  shrapnel  as  he  started  to  follow  our  retreat. 

Day  of  Artillery  Duels. 

"The  entire  day  was  marked  by  a  long  series  of  artillery  duels.  The 
enemy's  front  covered  the  plain  on  both  sides  of  the  road  and  the  defiles 
in  the  eastern  hills.  Wherever  an  advance  movement  appeared  it  was 
greeted  by  the  bark  of  the  quick  firers  and  the  drumming  of  the  machine 
funs. 

"There  was  little  rifle  fire.  The  Russian  main  column  was  already 
proceeding  north  and  a  few  Cossacks  were  hovering  in  the  rear  support- 
ing the  batteries. 

"At  noon  the  Japanese  artillery  arrived  and  engaged  the  Cossack 
horse  battery.  The  Russians  made  no  attempt  to  seriously  contest  the 
ground,  but  retired  to  a  fresh  position,  at  the  same  time  worrying  the 
enemy." 


394  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

General  Kuroki's  Advance. 

After  occupying  Kaichou  the  Japanese  army  moved  northward, 
with  Haicheng  as  the  probable  goal.  A  correspondent  with  the  Jap- 
anese army  contributed  the  following  description  of  General  Kuroki's 
advance: 

"The  advance  of  the  Japanese  over  a  wide  front  has  been  a  complete 
success.  It  at  once  deceived  the  enemy  and  filled  him  with  paralyzing 
doubt  as  to  the  true  direction  of  attack.  We  had  evidence  of  this  on 
our  march  towards  Liaoyang.  Positions  which  nature  itself  seemed 
to  have  designed  for  purposes  of  defense,  and  upon  which  infinite  labor 
and  skill  had  been  expended,  had  been  abandoned  without  a  struggle. 

"These  bloodless  victories  themselves  are  a  tribute  to  the  strategy 
of  the  Japanese,  and  the  secrecy  and  foresight  which  mark  every  move- 
ment of  the  great  army  now  in  the  field. 

Russians  Abandon  Trenches. 

"Twelve  miles  south  of  Motienling,  on  the  Pekin  road,  is  a  saddle- 
like hill  which  forms  the  watershed  of  the  Tsaiho.  The  ridge  runs  like 
a  reef  across  the  northern  edge  of  a  long,  narrow  defile  through  which 
we  have  advanced, 

"This  strong  position  the  Russians  had  made  even  more  formidable 
by  trenches  with  gun  emplacements  here  and  there.  Here,  if  anywhere, 
we  expected  they  would  make  a  stand,  but  when  we  came  to  the  water- 
shed they  were  not  visible.  The  trenches  .were  empty  and  the  guns 
gone. 

"At  Lienchenkwan,  four  miles  further  on,  we  found  only  traces  of 
the  camp  which  had  been  the  headquarters  of  the  Russians  and  the 
charred,  blackened  slope  where  they  had  burned  their  stores  of  forage 
and  grain. 

"But  surely  we  should  find  the  elusive  enemy  at  Motienling — that 
famous  heaven  reaching  pass  about  which  military  experts  have  written 
so  much — but  that,  too,  was  deserted. 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  395 

Motien  Pass  Not  Defensible. 

"On  the  whole,  its  abandonment  was  not  surprising.  The  pass 
really  is  not  defensible.  Its  position  is  forestalled  by  a  mountain  about 
1,000  feet  above  the  river  valley,  traversed  by  a  steep  winding  path. 
The  mountain  is  crowded  with  angles  and  dead  ground  on  which  large 
bodies  of  troops  could  lie  in  perfect  security.  The  slopes  were  steep 
and  there  was  no  room  for  field  fire.  The  Russians  therefore  had 
iormed  a  correct  estimate  of  the  tactical  features  of  the  pass,  and  had 
not  wasted  their  energies  on  defensive  works. 

"If  the  attack  on  our  outpost  yesterday  was  really  an  attempt  to 
recover  it,  it  must  be  accepted  as  an  indication  that  General  Kouropatkin 
suddenly  has  become  alive  to  his  danger  and  sought  to  retard  our  ad- 
^'ance  accordingly. 

Russian  Attack  That  Failed. 

"The  attack  resembled,  in  some  respects,  the  onslaught  of  the  Boers 
at  Wagon  hill,  outside  of  Ladysmith. 

"Under  cover  of  darkness  two  battalions  approached  the  valley  at 
the  foot  of  the  northern  slope  of  the  pass,  which  was  occupied  by  a  sin- 
-gle  battalion  of  Japanese.  The  defenders  were  taken  by  surprise,  and 
the  enemy  secured  a  footing  on  the  road  at  the  head  of  the  valley. 

"At  this  point  one  company  of  Japanese  became  involved  in  a  hand 
to  hand  fight.  It  then  withdrew  a  little  in  order  to  secure  a  better  field 
ior  fire.  The  second  company,  being  reinforced,  came  through  the 
woods  and  subjected  the  Russians  to  an  enfilading  fire,  and  the  third 
company  threw  itself  on  the  enemy. 

A  Fully  Equipped  Army. 

"A  desperate  struggle  ensued.  One  sergeant  cut  down  an  officer 
and  two  men  before  he  fell,  pierced  by  many  bayonets. 

"The  fourth  company  occupied  the  ridge  to  the  south,  lest  there 
should  be  another  attack  from  the  rear,  but  no  such  attack  was  deliv- 
ered, and  in  time  it  joined  the  pursuit  along  the  river  when  the  Rus- 


396  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

sians  retreated.    Only  one  battalion  of  the  enemy  came  into  action.    It 
lost  fifty-three  killed  and  forty-seven  wounded  and  prisoners. 

"This  gallant  little  fight  exemplifies  the  state  of  things  which  Euro- 
pean critics  are  apt  to  ignore — namely;  that  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  war  the  field  has  been  taken  by  a  fully  equipped,  scientific  army, 
which  would  rather  be  exterminated  to  a  man  than  admit  defeat." 

Battle  of  Motien  Pass. 

On  July  17,  Russian  arms  suffered  a  disaster  at  Motien  pass,  when 
General  Keller  attempted  to  surprise  the  Japanese  forces  with  20,000 
men  and  fourteen  guns  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  under  cover 
«f  a  dense  fog.  The  sudden  onslaught  drove  in  the  Japanese  outposts 
but  as  soon  as  reinforcements  arrived  the  Japanese  gallantly  advanced 
to  the  attack,  and,  after  severe  fighting,  drove  off  the  Russians  and 
re-occupied  the  position.  The  Russians  retired,  their  retreat  being  well 
covered.  The  fighting  lasted  until  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the 
■Russians  losing  nearly  2,000  men  killed  and  wounded. 

Forces  Considered  Inadequate. 

General  Kouropatkin's  report  of  the  action  follows : 
"After  the  occupation  by  General  Kuroki's  army  of  the  passes  in 
the  Fonshui  mountain  chain,  our  information  concerning  his  forces  and 
dispositons  was  in  general  inadequate.  According  to  some  reports  his 
army  had  been  reinforced  and  he  had  even  extended  his  forces  towards 
Saimatze,  Other  reports  stated  that  a  displacement  of  his  troops  had 
been  made  in  the  direction  of  Ta  pass  and  Siuyen.  There  were  even 
indications  that  Kuroki  had  transferred  his  headquarters  from  Tskhak- 
hekan  to  Touinpu. 

"On  the  strength  of  the  information  received  and  on  the  basis  of 
reconnoissances  which  had  been  made  the  hypothesis  was  formed  that 
the  principal  forces  of  the  enemy  were  concentrated  around  Lianshank- 
wan  and  that  their  advanced  guards  had  been  strengthened  in  the 
passes  of  Siaokao,  Wafankwan,  Sinkia,  Lakho,  and  Papau,  as  well  as 
at  Sybel  pass,  two  and  a  half  miles  north  of  the  road  and  half  the  height 
of  Siaokao  pass. 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  397 

Keller  Ordered  to  Attack. 

"On  July  17,  in  order  to  determine  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  it 
was  decided  to  advance  against  his  position  in  the  direction  of  Lian- 
shankwan.  Lieutenant  General  Count  Keller  had  been  instructed  not 
to  start  with  the  object  of  capturing  the  pass,  but  to  act  according  to 
the  strength  of  the  force  that  he  would  find  opposed  to  him. 

"The  left  column  of  the  expeditionary  force,  consisting  of  three  bat- 
talions, was  dispatched  towards  Sybel  pass.  The  center  column,  com- 
manded by  Major  General  Kashtalinsky,  consisting  of  fourteen  bat- 
talions, with  twelve  guns,  was  destined  to  attack  Siaokao  pass,  the 
heights  surmounted  by  the  temple  and  Wafankwan  pass. 

"The  right  column,  one  battalion  strong,  was  occupying  points 
where  the  roads  leading  to  Sinkia  and  Lakho  passes  cross,  in  order 
to  cover  the  right  flank  of  General  Kashtalinsky's  column.  The  gen- 
eral reserve  was  left  at  Ikhavuen,  and  a  portion  of  the  force  occupied 
a  position  at  that  place. 

Advance  Begins  at  Night. 

"At  10  p.  m.,  July  16,  the  head  of  the  column  advanced  from  Ikha- 
vuan.  At  II  o'clock  a  battalion  of  the  Second  regiment  dislodged  a 
Japanese  outpost  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Lakho  and  the  Sinkia  roads. 

"The  details  of  this  engagement  have  not  yet  been  verified,  but  its 
general  course,  according  to  telegraphic  reports  sent  in  by  General 
Keller,  was  as  follows: 

"During  the  night  the  Japanese  had  evacuated  Siaokao  pass  and 
the  heights  surmounted  by  the  temple,  leaving  only  outposts  there.  At 
dawn  General  Kashtalinsky's  column  occupied  these  passes,  driving 
back  the  Japanese  advance  posts. 

Positions  Were  Untenable. 

"At  5:30  on  the  morning  of  July  17  the  Japanese  in  considerable 
strength  and  with  numerous  guns  occupied  Wafankwan  pass  and  the 


398  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

mountainous  bluffs  to  the  south  on  the  flank  of  General  KashtallnskyV 
column.  From  this  position  and  from  the  crest  of  the  mountains  to 
the  east  of  the  heights  surmounted  by  the  temple  the  enemy  directed 
a  heavy  rifle  and  artillery  fire. 

"General  Kashtalinsky  advanced  to  occupy  the  bluffs,  sending  for- 
ward at  once  one  and  then  three  battalions,  but  the  attempt  failed^ 
notwithstanding  the  support  given  by  the  horse  mountain  battery,  as 
our  field  guns  could  not  be  brought  into  action  on  account  of  the  nature 
of  the  ground. 

"At  8  a.  m.  General  Keller,  v^ho  w^as  directing  the  fight  around 
Ikhavuan,  deemed  it  necessary  to  lend  assistance  to  General  Kashta- 
linsky's  column  by  bringing  up  from  the  general  reserve  three  bat- 
talions to  the  heights  surmounted  by  the  temple. 

"In  order  to  maintain  the  positions  we  had  already  occupied,  it  was 
necessary,  owing  to  the  enemy's  pressure,  to  reinforce  immediately  with 
other  reserves  the  troops  in  the  fighting  line,  but  these  positions,  owing 
to  their  situation,  were  untenable. 

Keller  Decides  to  Retreat. 

"General  Keller  found  the  strength  of  the  enemy  so  great  compared 
with  ours  that  he  decided  not  to  continue  the  fight  and  not  to  bring  up 
either  the  special  or  the  general  reserves,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  in  case  of  his  ultimately  taking  the  offensive  it  would  be  necessary 
to  attack  without  support  of  the  field  artillery. 

"In  consequence  of  this  General  Keller  decided  about  10:30  to  with- 
draw his  troops  to  the  positions  originally  occupied  in  the  Yangze  pass. 
The  troops  retired  slowly,  step  by  step,  and  in  perfect  order,  covered, 
by  the  fire  of  a  field  battery,  which  had  been  brought  into  action. 

Japs  Take  Up  Pursuit. 

"Towards  midday  an  offensive  movement  by  the  enemy  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  right  flank  of  the  Yangze  pass  position  developed,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  Japanese  mountain  battery  was  brought  into  positior^- 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  399 

in  the  village  of  Tsoudiaputse,  two  and  a  half  miles  returned  to  Ikha- 
viian. 

"After  thirty-four  shots  had  been  fired  from  the  third  battery  of 
the  Third  brigade,  which  held  the  saddle  to  the  south  of  Yangze  pass^ 
the  Japanese  battery  was  finally  reduced  to  silence. 

"The  fight  ceased  at  3  p.  m.  and  the  troops  returned  to  Ikhavuan. 

"The  Japanese  advance  was  stopped  above  the  valley  of  the  lan- 
takhe  river  at  a  position  occupied  and  maintained  by  us. 

"In  consequence  of  a  sleepless  night  and  the  heat  of  the  day  our 
troops  were  greatly  fatigued,  having  been  over  fifteen  hours  on  foot 
and  fighting. 

"Our  losses  have  not  yet  been  exactly  ascertained,  but  General  Kel- 
ler reports  that  they  exceed  one  thousand. 

"The  gallant  Twenty-fourth  regiment  suffered  most.  General  Kel- 
ler especially  mentions  the  activity,  courage,  and  coolness  shown  by 
its  commanding  officers.  Colonel  Koschitz  was  severely  wounded  in 
the  leg,  but  remained  in  the  ranks  until  the  end  of  the  action." 

Kuroki's  Brief  Report. 

General  Kuroki  reported  that  on  July  17,  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, in  a  dense  fog,  General  Keller,  with  two  divisions,  assaulted  Motien 
pass  and  the  flanking  positions.  After  stubborn  fighting  the  Japanese 
repulsed  the  attack  and  pursued  the  Russians  nearly  to  Tienshutien, 
General  Kuroki  also  stated  that  four  officers  and  fifty-nine"  men  were 
killed  and  fifteen  officers  and  241  men  wounded.  In  one  company  all 
the  officers  were  either  killed  or  wounded. 

The  enemy  forced  the  outposts  into  Motien  pass  in  their  first  at- 
tack and  attempted  to  surround  the  Japanese  left  wing.  It  was  only  by 
stubborn  resistance  in  the  face  of  great  odds  that  the  Russians  were 
forced  to  retire. 

Jap  Story  of  the  Battle. 

The  Japanese  guarded  their  positions  about  the  pass  with  a  com- 
pany on  outpost.     These  men  resisted  stubbornly  the  Russian  advance 


400  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

and  awaited  the  arrival  of  reinforcements.     When  these  arrived  they 
joined  in  the  general  attack. 

The  outpost  detachment  stationed  at  Hsiamatang  held  this  position 
all  day  long.  It  was  largely  outnumbered  by  the  enemy  and  every 
commissioned  and  noncommissioned  ofificer  was  wounded,  as  were  a 
majority  of  the  men.  The  attack  on  Motien  pass  began  at  3  o'clock 
in  the  morning. 

How  the  Attack  Began. 

The  Russians  engaged  the  outposts  and  the  Japanese  at  once  went 
into  action.  The  Japanese  artillery,  posted  on  the  heights  to  the  north- 
west of  Wufingkuan,  opened  on  the  enemy,  and  the  Japanese  outposts 
retired  gradually. 

The  Russian  cavalry  galloped  forward  and  deployed  along  the  ridge 
to  the  west  of  the  pass.  Two  hours  later,  at  5  o'clock,  the  entire  Jap- 
anese line  was  engaged.  The  Russians  were  constantly  receiving  rein- 
forcements and  finally  they  had  four  regiments  in  action.  They  out- 
numbered the  Japanese. 

The  Russians  made  vain  endeavors  to  envelop  the  Japanese  left. 

At  this  point  the  Japanese  occupied  the  summit  of  Motien  moun- 
tain, and  they  resisted  desperately  the  efforts  of  the  enemy  to  dislodge 
them. 

When  the  Russians  finally  retreated  they  were  pursued  by  the  entire 
Japanese  line.  Seven  battalions  of  the  enemy  made  a  halt  on  the  heights 
of  Tawan  and  with  four  guns  checked  the  Japanese  pursuit. 

Three  Against  One. 

One  company  of  Japanese  soldiers  reconnoitering  from  Hsuikailing 
encountered  and  engaged  three  battalions  of  Russians.  It  fought  until 
reinforced  by  four  companies,  when  the  Russians  were  repulsed.  The 
Japanese  seized  and  held  the  heights  west  of  Makumenza. 

The  attack  on  Hsiamatang  began  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  A 
battalion  of  Russian  infantry  and  a  squadron  of  cavalry  assaulted  the 
Japanese  company  on  outpost  there.     The  Russians  received  reinforce- 


A  WOUNDED  RUSSIAN  SOLDIER 

The  Japanese  hospital  and  medical  departments  were  in  every  way  thoroughly  equipped 
and  eflBcient.  The  army  doctors  of  the  Mikado  removed  the  wounded  from  the  field  without 
regard  to  nationality.  The  above  picture  shows  two  Japanese  physicians,  assisted  by  two 
women  nurses  of  the  Red  Cross  Society,  tenderly  caring  for  a  wounded  soldier. 


GENEEAL  STOESSEL  AT  POET  ARTHUE, 

General  Stoessel,  whose  gallant  defense  of  Port  Arthur  excited  the  admiration  of 
the  world,  was  described  as  a  tireless  worker,  a  man  of  few  words  and  a  thorough  disci- 
plinarian. It  was  also  said  of  him  that  he  never  slept,  for  when  the  beleaguered  city  was 
int  darkness  a  light  burned  in  his  headquarters.  Surrounded  by  an  overwhelming  force, 
■with  ammunition  and  fool  almrst  exhausted,  he  long  refused  to  surrender. 


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ADMIRAL  URIU,  ADMIRAL   TOGO, 

The  Hero  of  the  Battle  of  Chemulpo.  Commander  of  the  Port  Arthur  Reat 

FIELD  MARSHAL  OYAMA, 

Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Japanese  Army. 

.                     GENERAL  OKU,  GENERAL  NODZTT, 

Commander  of  the  Second  Japanese  Army  Commander  of  the  Japanese  Army 

Corps.  Forming  the  Center. 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  401 

ments  until  they  were  a  regiment  strong.  The  Japanese  resisted  dog- 
gedly. All  their  officers  were  either  killed  or  wounded,  but  still  the 
men  fought  on.  The  Japanese  finally  received  reinforcements,  and 
the  Russians  retired  at  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

Attack  Was  Well  Planned. 

Commenting  on  the  battle  at  Motien  pass,  Spenser  Wilkinson,  the 
noted  correspondent,  said: 

"General  Keller  was  trying  to  break  the  center  of  the  long  Japanese 
front — a  good  plan  when  the  enemy's  front  is  120  miles  long,  as  it  seems 
to  be  in  this  case.  A  vigorous,  successful  Russian  offensive  move  along 
the  main  road  would  render  precarious  the  position  of  the  whole  Jap- 
anese right  wing  and  might  also  compel  the  left  wing  to  fall  back  toward 
Siuyen. 

"General  Kouropatkin's  dispatch  seems  to  treat  the  action  as  a  recon- 
noissance  in  force.  The  Japanese  have  been  holding  the  passes  for  the 
last  three  weeks,  and  though  they  have  pushed  their  left  forward 
through  Kaichou  there  is  as  yet  no  sign  on  their  part  of  a  general 
advance. 

Maintaining  Its  Position. 

"By  every  plausible  hypothesis,  Kuroki's  army  in  the  mountains 
merely  is  keeping  its  position  until  the  fall  of  Port  Arthur  gives  it  large 
reinforcements,  and  when  every  available  battery  and  battalion  can 
be  made  to  co-operate,  operations  against  Kouropatkin  will  begin,  but  if 
the  Japanese  field  army  is  not  yet  ready  to  attack  Kouropatkin  he  may 
take  the  initiative.  That  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  battle,  or  that 
the  attack  at  some  point  or  other  soon  will  be  repeated. 

"There  are,  however,  two  great  difficulties  in  Kouropatkin's  way. 
The  first  is  that  the  Japanese  have  proved  at  the  Yalu,  at  Nanshan,  and 
at  Vafangow  that  they  have  tactical  superiority.  They  are  better  ar- 
tists at  fighting  than  the  Russians  and  are  equally  brave. 

"Next,  Kouropatkin's  army  ir  la  avvkward  strategical  position.  It  is 
strung  out  on  a  line  from  Tatchekiao  to  Mukden  with  its  communica- 
tions a  prolongation  of  its  front. 


402  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

"If  Kouropatkin  could  make  a  great  left  wheel  and  drive  the  Jap- 
anese left  back  on  Fengwangcheng  the  Japanese  army  would  be  in  a 
perilous  situation,  but  the  Japanese  hold  the  mountains  and  the  Rus- 
sians the  plain.  Kouropatkin,  therefore,  does  better  to  try  and  break 
the  center,  so  as  to  compel  their  right  wing  to  fall  back  on  the  upper 
Yalu  and  left  wing  on  Takushan ;  but  Kouropatkin's  telegram,  in  which 
he  seems  to  have  been  painfully  surprised  by  the  strength  of  the  Jap- 
anese forces  at  the  point  where  he  tried  to  break  through,  hardly  augurs- 
well  for  his  next  attempt." 

Russians  Unmasked. 

On  July  1 8,  General  Kuroki  advanced  his  forces  with  the  object  of 
capturing  Kiaotung,  otherwise  Chowtow,  a  strong  position  on  the 
Chi  river,  northwest  of  Motien  pass  and  east  of  Anping.  The  advance 
unmasked  the  Russians,  who  retired  northward  along  the  Chi  river^ 
General  Kuroki  following. 

Suddenly  two  Russian  battalions  with  eight  guns  turned  and  vigor- 
ously attacked  the  Japanese  vanguard,  which  was  severely  mauled,  one 
company  losing  all  its  officers.  Supports  were  rapidly  forwarded  and 
fighting  continued  obstinately. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  the  whole  Russian  position  was  deter- 
mined. It  was  on  a  height  about  2,000  yards  above  the  Chi  river. 
which  protected  the  Russian  left  flank,  while  lofty  precipices  shielded 
its  right  flank,  the  position  only  being  approachable  through  a  narrow 
defile. 

Japs  Attack  at  Midnight. 

The  fighting  continued  until  nightfall,  when  the  Japanese  bivou- 
acked. The  Russians  made  two  counter  attacks,  both  of  which  were  re- 
pulsed. The  Japanese  renewed  the  attack  at  midnght,  the  main  body 
operating  against  the  Russian  center,  while  detachments  were  sent 
to  watch  the  respective  flanks.  Artillery  was  posted  in  the  valley  and 
on  the  heights  southward. 

The  engagement  became  general  at  dawn.  The  Russians  directed 
the  fire  of  thirty-two  guns  at  their  assailants,  pouring  in  shell  persist- 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  405 

ently.  The  Japanese  artillery  responded  and  the  gun  duel  lasted  for 
four  hours.  Then  the  infantry  advanced,  and,  by  3  o'clock  in  the  after- 
-noon,  the  Japanese  flankers  had  scaled  the  height  occupied  by  the  Rus- 
sian right,  whereupon  the  main  body  was  ordered  to  storm  the  center. 

In  doing  this  the  Japanese  lost  severely  from  Russian  rifle  fire,  al- 
though the  artillery  protected  the  movement  to  the  utmost. 

Russian  Retreat  a  Rout. 

The  final  charge,  which  was  made  at  half  past  5  o'clock,  broke  the 
Russians,  whose  retreat  was  already  partly  cut  off,  and  their  retire- 
ment soon  became  a  rout.  They  fled  to  the  north  and  east,  leaving 
131  dead  and  300  rifles.  The  Japanese  took  forty-seven  prisoners  and 
several  guns  and  occupied  Kiaotung. 

Prisoners  taken  estimate  the  Russian  loss  at  1,000.  Their  force 
comprised  seven  battalions  of  infantry  and  a  regiment  of  Cossacks,  in 
addition  to  the  artillery. 

The  Japanese  lost  Major  Hiraoka,  who  was  the  Japanese  attache 
witnessing  the  Boer  war,  fifty-four  men  killed,  and  eighteen  ofl[icers, 
and  351  men  wounded. 

The  Japanese  also  attacked  on  July  19  a  battalion  of  infantry  and 
i,ooo  cavalry  at  Choshiapo,  north  of  Shaotientse,  and  drove  them  across 
the  Taitsze  river,  after  four  hours  of  fighting.  The  Japanese  lost  sev- 
enteen wounded. 

In  the  meantime  there  were  constant  skirmishes  in  this  region  be- 
tween Amur  Cossacks  and  Japanese  scouts.  The  Japanese  ma4e  an 
unusually  heavy  attack  on  the  Russian  outpost  at  Tzyanchan,  when 
100  cavalry  and  700  infantry  rushed  the  camp  and  forced  the  Cossacks 
to  retire.  The  following  day,  however,  the  Japanese  retired  and  the 
Russians  reoccupied  the  position. 

Another  Japanese  Victory. 

On  July  17th  a  detachment  of  the  Russian  troops  gave  battle  in 
the  Sybel  pass  to  a  force  of  Japanese  soldiers.  The  engagement  re- 
sulted with  the  retirement  of  the  Russians  and  the  loss  of  over  200 


404  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

killed  and  wounded.  In  another  fight,  on  the  Mukden  road,  on  July 
19th,  several  companies  of  dismounted  Cossacks  offered  a  strong  re- 
sistance to  the  Japanese  advance  guards.  As  a  result  of  several  days' 
activity,  the  Japanese  secured  better  strategic  lines  from  their  advance 
and  the  Russians  lost  their  best  defensive  positions  both  on  the  Liao- 
yang  and  Mukden  roads. 

The  Battle  of  Tatchekiao. 

On  July  23,  the  Japanese  commenced  to  push  forward  from  Kai- 
chou  and  force  the  retirement  of  the  Russian  rear  guard  to  Tatchekiao, 
while  a  simultaneous  Japanese  advance  began  from  the  valley  of  the 
Chi  on  the  east  apparently  also  directed  against  Yinkow,  the  port  of 
Newchwang,  by  way  of  Tatchekiao,  The  fourteen  hour  fight  at  the  lat- 
ter place  with  heavy  losses  on  both  sides,  the  evacuation  and  partial 
destruction  of  Newchwang  by  the  Russians  and  the  heavy  Japanese 
movement  upon  Liaoyang  followed  hard  upon  each  other. 

According  to  the  official  reports  there  was  considerable  hard  fight- 
ing at  Tatchekaio  before  the  place  was  taken. 

The  army  of  General  Oku,  combined  with  what  is  known  as  the 
Takushan  forces,  attacked  Tatchekiao  Sunday  night,  July  24,  and  on 
Monday  captured  all  the  important  topographical  keys.  The  Russian 
forces  consisted  of  five  divisions. 

In  a  daring  night  attack  against  a  Russian  force,  estimated  at  five 
divisions  with  100  guns,  General  Oku  succeeded  in  driving  the  enemy 
from  their  strong  line  of  defense  south  of  Tatchekiao. 

Advancing  on  Sunday,  General  Oku  found  a  superior  force  con- 
fronting him,  and  that  a  heavy  artillery  fire  from  the  enemy  was  check- 
ing his  men.  He  thereupon  decided  to  hold  the  positions  he  then  held 
and  to  attempt  a  night  surprise.  This  was  successful,  the  Japanese 
troops  hustling  the  Russians  into  retreat  to  Tatchekiao.  The  Japanese 
had  only  800  casualties.     No  estimates  of  the  Russian  losses  are  given. 

Takushan  Army  in  Reserve. 

The  Takushan  army  did  not  participate  in  this  fight,  it  being  located 
to  the  east  of  Tatchekiao.     Moving  to  the  northwest,  this  Takushan 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  405 

force  fought  and  won  a  separate  action  on  Friday,  July  22,  at  Panling, 
losing  thirty-one  men. 

The  Japanese  began  the  advance  against  the  Russian  positions  south 
of  Tatchekiao  on  Saturday,  July  23.  On  this  date  the  vanguard  occu- 
pied positions  in  the  vicinity  of  Chulchiatun,  to  the  southeast  of  Tatche- 
kiao, developing  the  position  and  strength  of  the  enemy.  The  Russian 
line  was  through  the  hills  south  of  Tatchekiao,  extending  almost  due 
east  and  west  of  the  railroad.  The  position  of  the  enemy  was  fortified. 
The  strongest  point  was  at  Taiping  mountain,  to  the  southwest  of 
Tatchekiao,  and  here  the  heaviest  force  had  assembled.  The  Russians 
had  two  battalions  of  artillery  posted  near  Chatenganon,  due  south  of 
Tatchekiao  and  ahead  of  the  main  line. 

Russian  Batteries  Active. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Russian  batteries,  posted  in  various  positions 
on  the  heights,  opened  with  vigor,  shelling  the  advancing  Japanese  line. 
The  strength  of  the  Russians  gradually  developed  during  the  day  and 
General  Oku  estimated  it  at  five  divisions  and  100  guns.  The  Russian 
fire  prevented  a  general  advance  and  determined  General  Oku  to  decide 
to  await  the  advance  of  darkness  to  deliver  a  night  assault. 

Two  divisions  of  Russians  occupied  the  Saicheng  road,  and  Gen. 
Oku  took  the  precautionary  measure  of  engaging  this  force  with  artil- 
lery. The  Russians  replied  with  artillery  and  the  duel  lasted  until 
darkness. 

Suddenly  at  10  o'clock  Sunday  night  the  entire  Japanese  right  was 
hurled  against  the  first  Russian  position  east  and  west  of  Taiping  moun- 
tain and  easily  captured  it.  At  midnight  the  second  position  was  at- 
tacked and  by  daylight  the  Japanese  occupied  the  eminence  to  the  east 
of  Chuichiatun.  The  Russians  were  in  retreat  toward  Tatchekiao.  At 
7  o'clock  Monday  morning  the  Japanese  seized  Chenyshishan  without 
resistance  and  pursued  the  Russian  force  toward  Tatchekiao. 

Kouropatkin  Sends  More  Details. 

General  Kouropatkin  supplemented  his  own  dispatches  about  the 
battle  at  Tatchekiao  with  the  report  of  Lieutenant  General  ZarouvaieflF, 


4o6  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

who  stated  that  his  attempt  to  take  the  offensive  against  the  Japanese 
right  flank  failed,  the  Russians  losing  heavily.  He  ascertained  after 
the  fight  that  eighteen  Russian  battalions  had  been  engaged  with  at 
least  two  Japanese  divisions,  supported  by  an  overwhelming  number  of 
batteries.     The  report  added : 

"In  these  circumstances  I  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  resume  the 
battle  on  the  following  day.  I  resolved  to  retreat  north.  The  losses 
have  not  yet  been  ascertained,  but  it  is  estimated  there  have  been  about 
twenty  officers  and  600  men  killed  and  wounded.  Colonel  Auspensky  of 
the  Tomsk  regiment  was  severely  wounded. 

Praises  His  Soldiers. 

"I  must  testify  to  the  remarkable  firmness  of  the  troops  of  my  com- 
mand in  this  difficult  action,  which  lasted  fifteen  hours.  The  Siberian 
regiments  particularly  distinguished  themselves  by  unwavering  endur- 
ance. They  had  to  meet  the  main  attack.  They  did  not  yield  much 
ground  despite  the  enormous  numerical  superiority  of  the  enemy  and 
repeated  attacks  on  our  center,  where  the  fighting  on  four  occasions 
was  conducted  at  close  quarters  with  the  bayonet,  which  the  Japanese 
could  not  withstand." 

Japanese  Threatening  Haicheng. 

A  telegram  from  General  Kouropatkin  was  received  at  St.  Peters- 
t>urg,  on  July  27,  confirming  the  occupation  of  Tatchekiao  by  the  Japan- 
ese July  25  and  adding  that  a  Japanese  division  had  moved  on  Hai- 
cheng. 

'General  Stackelberg's  and  General  Zarouvaieff's  corps  were  at 
Haicheng,  but  the  rear  guard  of  the  Russian  army  was  half  way  between 
Haicheng  and  Tatchekiao.  The  Japanese,  it  was  then  believed,  proba- 
bly were  halting,  as  usual  with  them  after  each  advance,  to  recuperate 
and  intrench. 

Two  Japanese  divisions  were  nearing  Sinouchen,  which  bore  the 
same  relation  to  Haicheng  as  Tangchi  did  to  Tatchekiao.  These  forces 
were  also  stopping  and  throwing  up  earthworks  eight  miles  southeast 


RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  407 

of  Sinouchen,  which  was  strongly  held  by  the  Russians.     Skirmishers 
from  either  side  were  within  speaking  distance. 

The  Japanese  continued  to  menace  Liaoyang's  communications  by 
concentrating  troops  at  Sikseyan,  but  no  further  advance  was  made 
towards  Liaoyang  or  Mukden. 

Russians  Retreat  to  Haicheng. 

After  the  battle  of  Tatchekiao,  as  stated,  the  Russian  troops  re- 
treated to  Haicheng.  A  dispatch  from  Newchwang  stated  that  for  sev- 
eral days  there  had  been  heavy  fighting  in  the  marshes  south  of 
Haicheng,  during  the  gradual  retreat  of  the  Muscovite  army.  That 
the  Russian  general  stafif  considered  the  situation  serious  is  indicated 
in  the  following  statement  from  St.  Petersburg: 

"The  enveloping  movement  of  the  three  Japanese  armies  of  Gen- 
erals Kuroki,  Nodzu,  and  Oku  around  General  Kouropatkin's  position 
appears  to  be  almost  complete,  and  the  extended  line  of  the  Japanese 
seems  to  be  the  only  drawback  to  concerted  action.  It  is  realized  here 
that  the  Russian  general  must  now  either  fight  or  withdraw  the  whole 
army  northward.    He  is  being  closely  pressed  at  Haicheng." 

The  Russians  Amazed. 

A  Russ  special  from  Liaoyang  said  the  mobility  of  the  Japanese  was 
wonderful.  At  Tatchekiao  they  made  a  feint  to  the  east  and  let  fall 
the  main  blow  from  the  south.  The  Japanese  losses  are  accounted  for 
by  their  having  attacked  a  fortified  place  defended  by  artillery. 

Officers  were  astounded  at  the  dexterity  and  cleverness  of  Kuroki, 
who,  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  roads,  seemed  able  to  focus  his  troops 
3.t  any  point  at  any  moment. 

Nemirovich  Daschenko,  a  famous  correspondent  at  the  front,  wrote: 
*Tt  is  under  discouraging  circumstances  that  our  forces  have  to  fight. 
They  have  the  knowledge  now  that  the  Japanese  have  better  artillery 
and  are  better  prepared  in  every  way.  Good  as  our  rifles  may  be,  those 
of  the  enemy  are  better.  We  have  little  mountain  artillery;  the  Jap- 
anese have  masses  of  it,  and  move  it  about  with  ease  from  place  to 


4o8  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

place.  The  secret  manner  in  which  the  enemy  moves  abont  is  marvel- 
ous. We  never  know  on  what  side  they  are  going  to  attack.  Their 
cavalry,  which  we  mocked  in  the  early  part  of  the  war,  scampers  all 
over  the  country. "^ 

Japanese  Armies  Renew  Fight. 

On  August  I,  the  Czar  received  the  following  dispatch,  dated  July 
31,  from  General  Kouropatkin :  "Three  Japanese  armies  have  renewed 
offensive  operations  on  our  southern  front.  Our  rear  guard  made  an 
obstinate  defense  until  the  appearance  of  considerably  superior  forces 
of  the  enemy  and  then  gradually  retired  in  the  direction  of  Haicheng. 
A  detachment  near  Sinoucheng,  fifteen  miles  southeast  of  Haicheng, 
successfully  withstood  the  enemy  until  in  the  afternoon. 

"The  attack  was  directed  against  our  right  flank,  which  from  its 
position  at  Kanhua  pass  inflicted  great  losses  on  the  Japanese- 
Russian  Right  Flank  Turned. 

**The  efforts  of  the  Takushan  army  and  General  Oku's  army  to- 
iay  are  being-  mainly  directed  to  cutting  our  communications  between 
Sinoucheng  and  Haicheng,  their  operations  starting  from  a  line  travers- 
ing Yanshukan,  Tapuntse  and  Liaohantse.  On  our  eastern  front  the 
Japanese  began  the  offensive  this  morning  against  our  Ikhavuen  posi- 
tion, the  enemy's  main  concentration  being  against  its  right  flank  which 
was  turned. 

"The  enemy  is  also  acting  on  the  offensive  between  Liaoyang  and 
Saimatze,  almost  due  north  of  Fenhuangcheng,  against  our  troops 
posted  at  Houtsiatse,  twenty-five  miles  from  Liaoyang. 

"Intelligence  has  been  received  of  a  considerable  number  of  Jap- 
anese landing-  off  Yinkow  under  the  cover  of  several  warships." 

A  further  dispatch  from  General  Kouropatkin  to  the  Emperor  said: 

"All  our  positions  were  retained  at  Sinoucheng  when  the  fighting 
ceased  at  6:45  p.  m.,  July  31,  but  I  have  not  yet  received  reports  of 
the  operation  on  our  extreme  right  flank. 

"We  retained  all  our  positions  held  by  our  eastern  force  at  Yangze 


RUSSIAri  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED.  409 

pass.  Genera?  Keller,  commanding,  had  chosen  these  as  the  point  from 
which  to  watch  the  fight.  A  battery  near  him  was  exposed  to  heavier 
fire  than  any  other  and  he  was  mortally  wounded  at  3  o'clock  this  after- 
noon.   He  died  twenty  minutes  later." 

General  Kouropatkin  also  reported  the  retirement  of  the  Russian 
vanguard  on  the  south  front,  a  short  distance  in  the  direction  of 
Haicheng. 

After  determined  fighting  near  the  village  of  Sangchengtse,  the  Jap- 
anese apparently  concentrated  considerable  forces  on  the  Saimatze  side 
of  Liaoyang. 

Report  of  Keller's  Death  Confirmed. 

The  report  of  Lieutenant  General  Count  Keller's  death  was  later 
confirmed.  He  was  killed  while  resisting  the  prelimfnary  attadc  of 
General  Kuroki's  army  on  the  Yangze  pass,  thirty  miles  east  of  Liao- 
yang. The  General  was  standing  near  a  battery  which  was  subjected  to 
a  terrific  fire,  when  a  shell  burst  close  to  him  and  he  fell,  mortally 
wounded,  dying  twenty  minutes  later. 

General  Keller  was  the  first  high  Russian  military  commander  to 
lose  his  life  in  this  war.  General  Zassalitch  resumed  the  command  of 
the  First  Siberian  army  corps. 

The  loss  of  General  Keller  is  deeply  felt  in  court  circles.  He  was  a 
personal  favorite  of  the  Emperor.  His  sister.  Countess  Kleimmicha, 
is  one  of  the  leaders  of  St.  Petersburg  society. 

Lieutenant  General  Count  Keller  at  the  opening  of  the  war  was 
in  command  of  the  Second  Siberian  army  division.  He  was  54  years 
old  and  resigned  the  Governorship  of  Ekaterinoslaflf  in  order  to  go  to 
the  front.  General  Keller  took  part  in  the  three  campaigns  of  the 
Russo-Turkish  war.  In  1887  he  commanded  the  Imperial  Rifle  regi- 
ment and  later  was  director  of  the  corps  of  imperial  pages,  by  which 
Keller  came  in  contact  with  the  members  of  the  imperial  family,  with 
whom  he  was  in  great  favor. 

General  Keller  was  considered  to  be  the  possessor  of  cool  judgment 
and  to  be  a  fine  strategist.    Though  a  strict  disciplinarian  Keller  was  a 


4IO  RUSSIAN  ARMY  NEARLY  TRAPPED. 

kind  and  careful  officer  and  popular  with  his  men.  His  onl);-  decora- 
tion  was  the  cross  of  the  military  order  of  St.  George,  which  he  wore 
on  the  breast  of  his  tunic.  He  sustained  two  reverses  at  the  hands  of 
the  Japanese — July  4  and  July  17 — being  repulsed  in  attacks  on  the 
Motien  pass. 

On  August  2  it  was  reported  that  in  consequence  of  furious  fighting 
the  Russians  were  compelled  to  evacuate  Haicheng;  this  was  later  con- 
firmed by  General  Kouropatkin  in  an  official  telegram  to  the  czar.  A 
<:lear  idea  of  the  brilliant  operations  of  the  Japanese  army  from  July  2^ 
to  August  3  may  be  obtained  from  the  map  on  the  following  page. 
After  occupying  all  the  strategic  points  from  Siuyen  to  Kaichou,  the 
Mikado's  troops  forced  the  Russian  line  northward  to  Liaoyang,  The 
abandonment  of  the  latter  place  and  the  retreat  of  the  Muscovite  army 
to  Mukden  naturally  followed. 


o  u  m  ^ 

g  4^  V  a 


a. 2  3 

•^  -fJ  «M 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS 

Adaairal  Skrydloflf's  Raid — The  Vladivostok  Squadron  Escapes — Togo  Encounters  the  Ras- 
sian  Fleet — Sinking  a  Eussian  Guardship — ^Bomhardment  of  the  West  Coast  of  the 
Iiiaotung  Peninsula — Tightening  the  Grip — The  Doomed  Fortress — ^Every  Postttoa. 
Occupied — The  Beginning  of  the  End. 

ON  JUNE  13  a  telegram  was  received  from  Admiral  Skrydloff, 
commanding  the  Vladivostok  squadron,  stating  that  he  had 
moved  w^ith  the  Vladivostok  squadron  tovvrards  Port  Arthur.  He  ar- 
rived within  thirty  miles  of  the  fortress,  when  he  ran  into  a  fog.  It 
was  asserted  that  Skrydloff  found  several  Japanese  torpedo  boats  and 
two  battleships  confronting  .him.  The  Japanese  attacked  fiercely  and 
inflicted  some  damage.  The  Russians  returned  the  fire,  but  as  none  of 
the  Port  Arthur  ships  appeared,  as  Admiral  Skrydloff  had  hoped  and 
expected,  he  returned  to  Vladivostok, 

Story  of  an  Eye- Witness. 

A  Russian  correspondent,  who  witnessed  the  meeting  between  the 
Russian  and  Japanese  squadrons,  gave  the  following  particulars: 

"The  Japanese  trap  for  our  cruisers  was  quite  cleverly  set.  A  squad- 
ron fully  three  times  the  strength  of  the  Russians  lay  in  wait  in  the 
strait  of  Korea.  A  strong  flotilla  of  torpedo  boats  lay  in  wait  at  Ta- 
kasaki,  the  northernmost  point  of  Tsu  island,  with  the  intention  of  dash- 
ing out,  catching  the  Russian  cruisers  between  two  fires,  and  forcing 
them  to  halt  and  to  fight. 

"The  plan  worked  up  to  the  point  of  meeting  the  Russian  squadron, 
which,  when  it  saw  the  superior  force  of  the  Japanese,  rapidly  retreated 
to  the  northward.  The  Japanese  began  a  stern  chase,  firing  at  intervals, 
but  their  shells  fell  one  and  one-third  miles  short.     At  this  juncture 

412 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  413 

the  Japanese  torpedo  boats  shot  out  from  Takasaki,  and  for  a  short  time 
it  looked  as  though  we  had  been  badly  trapped. 

"We  slipped  through  their  cordon  while  they  were  attempting  to 
draw  in  for  a  combined  attack.  Their  quick  firing  guns  opened  without 
damaging  the  Russians  in  the  slightest,  while  the  heavy  guns  of  the 
Russian  cruisers  sent  two  of  the  torpedo  boats  to  the  bottom.  The 
other  torpedo  boats  fled  to  the  protection  of  their  own  squadron. 

"The  Japanese  mistook  their  own  retreating  torpedo  boats  for  Rus- 
sian boats  coming  to  attack  them  and  opened  a  fusillade  which  lasted 
for  three  minutes.  The  Japanese  torpedo  boats  spouted  rockets  and 
worked  their  signal  lights  desperately  before  the  fire  of  their  squadron 
ceased.    We  were  unable  to  ascertain  the  damage  which  resulted. 

"The  reason  why  they  did  not  pursue  us  farther  is  not  known.  It 
is  certain  that  they  were  not  nearly  a  match  for  the  Russians  in  speed. 
The  torpedo  flotilla  is  still  hovering  around  Gensan  on  the  lookout  for 
Admiral  Kamimura's  squadron." 

The  Japanese  Admiral  Fails. 

When  the  Russian  Vladivostok  squadron  escaped  pursuit,  and  Vice 
Admiral  Kamimura  returned  to  his  base  at  Tsu  island  there  closed  what 
promised  to  be  one  of  the  most  spectacular  incidents  of  the  war. 

To  discover,  to  fight,  and  if  possible  to  destroy  three  fast  cruisers, 
one  of  them  the  most  powerful  fighting  machine  of  its  class  in  the  world, 
and  to  do  this  in  an  open  sea  700  miles  long  and  500  miles  across,  was 
the  problem  which  confronted  Kamimura. 

Wake  of  the  Russian  Raid. 

The  Vladivostok  ships  left  a  broad  path  behind  them  in  their  dash 
into  the  Korean  straits.    On  June  15  they  appeared,  without  warning,  in 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  strait  and  sank  three  transports  only  forty, 
miles  from  the  coast  of  Japan.     On  June  16  they  were  off  Oki  island, 
on  their  way  north. 

On  June  17,  still  going  north,  close  to  the  Japanese  coast,  they 
stopped  and  searched  the  American  bark  James  Johnson,  off  the  west- 


414  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

ern  entrance  of  Tsugaru  strait,  400  miles  directly  east  of  Vladivostok;. 
On  June  18  they  disappeared  off  Cape  Henashi,  steaming  north. 

British  naval  experts  declared  Kamimura  was  guilty  of  a  glaring 
error  in  not  sending  a  strong  fleet  at  full  speed  to  Vladivostok  as  soon 
as  he  learned  that  the  enemy  was  in  the  Korean  straits.  Kamimura  was- 
off  Tsu  island  with  his  fleet  on  June  15,  when  the  Russian  ships  ap- 
peared near  Osima  island.    He  began  the  pursuit  the  same  day. 

Russians  Double  Back. 

The  chase  continued  and  the  Japanese  scouts  were  slowly  overhaul- 
ing the  enemy  when  a  heavy  rain  storm  came  on  and  the  Russians- 
changed  their  course  immedately,  thus  foiling  pursuit.  They  next  ap- 
peared off  Hokkaido  and  again  changed  their  course  to  the  southward 
till  they  were  off  Heanshisaki.  They  then  evidently  steered  north  when.' 
unobserved,  though  it  was  known  that  the  Russians  were  off  Oki  island.- 
Admiral  Kamimura,  who  was  out  of  touch  with  his  base,  kept  searching 
for  the  Russians  in  the  direction  of  Vladivostok  and  was  thus  aware  of 
the  Muscovite  ruse. 

The  raid  of  the  Russian  Vladivostok  squadron  then  apparently  ended 
and  transports  resumed  their  regular  trips  between  Japan,  Korea,  and 
the  Liaotung  peninsula. 

The  raid  cost  Japan  three  transports,  the  lives  of  nearly  1,000  men,, 
and  a  large  quantity  of  supplies  and  material  for  the  railroads  being  con-- 
structed  in  Korea. 

Either  Battle  or  Suicide. 

The  raid  of  the  Vladivostok  squadron  brought  an  unwarranted 
amount  of  criticism  upon  Vice  Admiral  Kamimura  from  the  Japanese^ 
and  his  failure  to  catch  the  Russians  in  the  fog  off  Gensan  on  the  coast 
of  Korea,  when  the  Japanese  transport  Kinshiu  was  sunk  on  April  26 
with  a  loss  of  about  200  men,  was  recalled.  Some  of  these  even  declared 
that  if  Vice  Admiral  Kamimura  failed  to  catch  the  Russian  vessels 
before  they  reached  Vladivostok  he  should  either  resign  from  the  nav)r 
or  commit  suicide. 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  415 

The  popular  demand  for  his  replacement  rapidly  grew,  but  the  pub- 
lic was  without  information  as  to  the  nature  of  his  orders  or  the  plans 
of  the  naval  campaign,  and  failed  to  make  allowance  for  the  limitation 
of  conditions. 

Vice  Admiral  Kamimura's  squadron  was  lying  ofif  Tsu  island  when 
the  raiding  Russians  reached  Okino  island.  He  immediately  started  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy,  but  rains  obscured  the  sea  and  an  electrical  storm 
interfered  with  his  system  of  wireless  telegraphy.  Vice  Admiral  Kam- 
imura  was  a  splendid  officer,  and  the  only  possible  indictment  against 
him  was  one  of  lack  of  good  luck. 

Japanese  Steamers  Sunk. 

The  Japanese  transport  Izumi  was  returning  to  Moji  on  Wednesday,. 
June  15,  with  a  number  of  sick  Japanese  soldiers  on  board,  and  was- 
surrounded  by  three  Russian  warships  off  Osima,  near  Tsushima  strait. 
One  hundred  and  eighty  soldiers  aboard  were  taken  on  board  the  Grom- 
oboi.  The  Russian  man-of-war  had  a  number  of  other  prisoners  on 
board.  These  were  lined  up  and  compelled  to  witness  the  sinking  of 
the  Izumi.  Later  they  saw  the  destruction  of  the  transport  Hitachi. 
They  were  then  put  in  the  hold  until  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Thurs- 
day, June  16,  when  they  were  examined  and  twenty-two  of  them  were 
put  on  a  passing  ship  near  Okino  island.  The  Gromoboi  then  steamed 
northward. 

Friday  morning  two  small  steamers  w-ere  surrounded  by  the  Russian 
squadron  off  Fukyiama,  island  of  Yezo.  After  they  were  examined  they 
were  released.  The  Russians  placed  on  board  coolies  from  the  trans- 
port Sado  Maru,  which  had  previously  been  shelled  by  the  Russians. 

No  Fault  of  Kamimura. 

Vice  Admiral  Kamimura  made  a  long  report  on  the  movements  of 
his  fleet  in  searching  for  the  Russian  ships.  The  search  lasted  four  days 
and  the  Japanese  Admiral  thought  he  was  fortunate  in  having  no  acci- 
dent, considering  the  thick  weather.  He  regrets  that  the  search  had 
no  results.    The  loss  of  the  transports  he  said  was  due  to  the  fact  th'^t 


4i6  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

his  fleet  was  too  small  to  watch  both  the  Russian  fleets  and  convoy 
transports  also. 

Kamimura  said  he  was  informed  by  wireless  telegraph  that  he  was 
within  forty  miles  of  the  Russians  at  the  time  the  transports  were  de- 
stroyed, but  the  fog  hid  them  and  prevented  him  from  hearing  the  gnns. 
He  could  only  guess  the  direction  they  had  taken  and  wrongly  guessed 
that  they  were  making  for  Vladivostok, 

Another  Daring  Raid. 

On  June  30,  it  was  reported  that  the  Russian  squadron  from  Vladi- 
vostok was  again  at  large,  and  making  another  daring  raid  into  the 
Korean  straits.  The  squadron,  consisting  of  three  cruisers,  one  torpedo 
destroyer,  and  nine  torpedo  boats,  appeared  off  Gensan  on  the  east 
coast  of  Korea.  The  torpedo  boats  entered  Gensan  harbor  at  5:30  in 
the  morning,  shelled  the  settlement,  and  sunk  the  small  steamer  Koun, 
of  2,876  tons,  and  the  small  coasting  schooner  Seitsu. 

The  torpedo  boats  left  the  harbor  at  7:20.  A  total  of  200  shells 
was  fired  into  the  settlement,  but  no  serious  damage  resulted.  Two 
Korean  soldiers  were  wounded- 

Afterwards  the  squadron  was  reported  off  Anper,  about  fifteen  miles 
to  the  east  of  Gensan,  proceeding  in  a  southeasterly  direction.  Its  des- 
tination was  not  known. 

The  Squadron  Appears  Again. 

Friday  afternoon,  July  i,  the  Russian  warships  were  steaming  be- 
tween Iki  island  and  Tsuishima,  when  they  were  sighted  by  Vice  Ad- 
miral Kamimura,  ten  miles  distant. 

The  Japanese  fleet  turned  and  gave  chase,  their  torpedo  squadron 
leading.  The  distance  had  been  reduced  by  some  two  miles  when  dark- 
ness set  in.  Kamimura  then  ordered  the  torpedo  boats  to  dash  abead, 
but  before  they  were  able  to  use  their  tubes  they  were  subjected  to  a 
concentration  of  the  searchlights  on  the  Russian  ships  and  a  fierce  fire 
for  fifteen  minutes.  Suddenly  the  firing  ceased  and  every  light  on  the 
fleet  was  obscured.  The  Russian  tactics  succeeded  and  the  fleet  dis- 
appeared. 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  417 

Togo's  Great  Victory. 

On  June  23d,  the  combined  Japanese  fleet  attacked  the  enemy  off 
Port  Arthur. 

"Early  in  the  morning,"  said  Admiral  Togo,  in  his  official  report, 
"the  fact  that  the  battleships  Peresviet,  Poltava,  and  Sevastopol,  with 
the  cruisers  Bayan,  Pallada,  Diana,  Novik,  and  Askold,  preceded  by 
several  mine  dragging  steamers,  w^ere  emerging  from  the  harbor  en- 
trance was  reported  to  me  by  wireless  telegraphy  from  the  scouting 
ship. 

"Then,  according  to  arrangements  previously  made  to  provide 
against  the  enemy's  egress,  I  hastened  to  the  appointed  rendezvous, 
sending  my  fourth  and  fourteenth  destroyers  flotillas  to  watch  the  en- 
emy's movement. 

"At  II  o'clock  the  battleships  Cesarevitch,  Retvizan,  and  Pobieda 
joined  the  dragging  steamers,  which  commenced  cruising  about  in 
the  mines  section,  and  attempted  to  make  a  fairway.  We  kept  troubling 
them. 

"At  3  o'clock  p.  m.  my  fourth  and  fourteenth  flotillas  engaged  seven 
of  the  enemy's  destroyers  which  were  covering  the  dragging  operations 
and  defeated  them.  One  of  the  Russian  vessels,  catching  fire,  fled  into 
the  harbor.  The  cruiser  Novik  came  out  to  cover  the  other  flotillas 
and  joined  the  main  fleet. 

Russians  Put  to  Sea. 

"The  enemy  having  cleared  a  fairway  with  the  aid  of  their  dragging^ 
steamers  the  Novik  steamed  out  to  sea.  Our  third  fighting  squadron 
keeping  in  contact  drew  the  enemy  southward  on  a  southeasterly 
course. 

"Our  first  squadron,  hidden  south  of  Sugan  island,  waited  for  the 
enemy  and  concentrated  all  its  destroyers.  At  6:15  p.  m.  our  first 
squadron  sighted  the  enemy  eight  miles  northwest  of  Sugan  island. 
The  Cesarevitch  was  leading,  with  the  Novik  and  the  destroyers  on  its 
right 


4i8  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

"They  steamed  south.  At  7:30  p.  m.  our  distance  from  them  was 
14,000  yards.  The  enemy  changed  course  slightly  to  the  starboard  and 
we  followed  them,  trying  to  draw  the  enemy's  van. 

"At  8  p.  m.  the  enemy  altered  their  course  to  the  north  and  we 
turned  eight  points  and  steamed  in  till  sunset,  at  8:20  p.  m.,  when  we 
parted  eight  points,  and  I  ordered  the  torpedo  craft  to  attack  the 
enemy. 

"At  9:30  p.  m.,  when  five  miles  distant  from  the  harbor,  the  four- 
teenth torpedo  flotilla  made  its  first  attack  on  the  enemy's  rear,  the 
fifth  flotilla  following." 

Unable  to  Enter  Harbor. 

"The  enemy  was  thrown  into  disorder  and  could  not  make  port,  sa 
they  anchored  at  10:30  p.  m.  in  the  roadstead,  where  we  attacked  them 
eight  times  before  dawn.  At  10:30  p.  m.  our  sixteenth  flotilla  dashed 
from  Shoosen  point  and  launched  two  torpedoes  into  the  bows  of  a 
battleship  resembling  the  Peresviet,  which  immediately  sank.  We 
could  ascertain  no  other  results  till  morning,  when  we  saw  that  one 
battleship  was  missing  and  two  vessels  of  the  Sevastopol  and  Diana 
class  unable  to  use  their  engines.  On  the  24th  the  enemy's  fleet  entered 
the  harbor,  some  being  towed  and  others  under  their  own  steam,  the 
last  getting  in  at  4  o'clock  p.  m." 

A  Russian  Guardship  Sunk. 

On  the  night  of  June  2y  the  Japanese  torpedo  boats  approached 
Port  Arthur  and  were  discovered  by  the  Russian  picket  ships.  Despite 
the  heavy  fire  from  ships  and  forts  and  the  blinding  searchlights,  the 
Japanese  succeeded  in  torpedoing  one  of  the  Russian  men-of-war.  At 
the  same  time  the  Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyer  attacked  the  Japanese 
and  the  fire  from  the  latter  capsized  one  of  the  Russian  boats.  Accord- 
ing to  Admiral  Togo,  two  officers  and  fifteen  men  were  killed  and 
wounded. 

The  twelfth  torpedo  boat  flotilla,  under  the  command  of  Commander 
Yamada,  delivered  the  attack.  The  Japanese  vessels  were  revealed 
c 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  419 

by  the  Russian  searchlights  and  the  shore  forts  opened  a  heavy  fusillade 
on  them. 

The  Russian  guardship  was  surrounded  and  attacked  by  the  Jap- 
anese, who  saw  this  vessel  sink  amid  huge  volumes  of  water  thrown 
up  by  heavy  explosions. 

Following  this  the  Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyers  at  once  attacked 
the  Japanese  vessels,  which  responded  to  the  onslaught.  A  Russian 
destroyer,  while  within  the  area  lit  up  by  the  searchlights,  was  seen  to 
explode,  rise,  fall  back  into  the  water  sideways,  and  sink. 

Operations  of  Togo's  Fleet. 

Admiral  Togo  devoted  a  considerable  portion  of  the  month  of  June 
to  a  bombardment  of  the  west  coast  of  the  Liaotung  peninsula.  In  an 
official  report  he  stated  that  the  captain  of  a  foreign  vessel  that  left 
Yinkow  on  June  8  reported  that  the  recent  Japanese  bombardment  in 
the  vicinity  of  Kaiping,  south  of  Newchwang,  caused  Russian  forces  to 
the  number  of  3,000,  with  twenty  guns,  to  evacuate  Yinkow,  On  the 
following  day  another  detachment  of  the  fleet  bombarded  the  enemy 
for  two  hours  near  Yingchintsu  and  Tsantiakao,  inflicting  much  damage 
upon  them. 

Another  detachment  of  the  Japanese  fleet,  according  to  Admirat 
Togo's  report,  discovered  four  Russian  torpedo  boat  destroyers  ia 
Talienwan  bay,  near  Shaopingtan,  and  drove  them  back  to  Port  Arthur. 
Over  seventy  mines  have  been  destroyed  in  Talienwan  bay.  Thirty 
floating  mines  have  been  found  and  destroyed.  Some  of  these  were 
drifting  into  Pechili  gulf. 

The  Grip  Tightens. 

Meantime  the  Japanese  grip  was  tightening  on  Port  Arthur.  la- 
the fighting  which  occurred  on  July  4  for  the  possession  of  one  of  the 
hills  northeast  of  Port  Arthur,  the  Russians  lost  100  men  killed  and 
fifty  wounded. 

The  Japanese  having  occupied  the  second  range  of  hills  around  Port 
Arthur  began  to  march  upon  the  Russian  marine  camp  that  commanded 


420  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

the  principal  pass  through  the  hills,  which  is  directly  bade  of  Port 
Arthur.  This  camp  was  considered  vital  to  the  safety  of  the  fortress, 
and  it  was  guarded  by  20,000  marines  and  sailors.  In  the  Chinese- 
Japanese  war  the  Japanese  occupied  this  camp  for  seven  days  before 
they  took  possession  of  Port  Arthur. 

Port  Arthur  Harbor  Unsafe, 

The  last  junk  to  leave  Port  Arthur  was  towed  out  of  the  harbor  and 
its  passengers  were  compelled  to  remain  below  until  it  had  cleared  the 
harbor  entrance.  This  measure  was  adopted  to  prevent  the  passengers 
from  obtaining  knowledge  of  conditions  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor. 

Chinese  reported  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Port  Arthur  was 
unsafe  for  the  passage  of  vessels.  One  Russian  warship  was  slightly 
damaged  while  coming  out  recently  as  a  result  of  striking  a  sunken 
wreck,  and  the  two  other  warships  collided  in  the  entrance  and  had  to 
undergo  repairs. 

Japs  Nearer  Port  Arthur. 

Chinese  refugees  from  Port  Arthur  stated  at  this  time  'that  the 
Japanese  forces  had  formed  a  complete  cordon  around  the  land  side 
of  the  town,  and  that  they  were  occupying  all  the  commanding  hills, 
including  Wolf  mountain,  within  a  radius  of  seven  miles  of  the  fortifica- 
tions. 

The  Chinese  also  said  that  two  large  warships  were  missing  from 
the  squadron  which  went  out  from  Port  Arthur  on  June  23,  and  that 
the  Russian  battleship  Sevastopol  was  damaged  on  that  day.  The 
Japanese  bombarded  Port  Arthur  from  the  sea  on  June  30,  but  inflicted 
no  damage  to  the  town. 

A  trustworthy  Chinaman  reported  that  on  July  5  one  division  of 
the  Japanese  army  reached  the  northeast  slope  of  the  Takushan  moun- 
tain, the  summit  of  which  was  less  than  three  miles  from  Port  Arthur. 

This  division  parted  from  another  division  of  the  army  on  the  high- 
way north  of  Port  Arthur,  after  which  it  made  its  way  through  moun- 
tainous country.  The  other  division  continued  along  the  main  road 
toward  the  marine  camp,  to  reach  which  it  would  have  to  pass  over  a 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  421 

plain,  but  attacked  by  this  division,  in  conjunction  with  that  of  Taku- 
shan  mountain,  the  marine  camp  would  not  be  tenable. 

Japs  Take  Another  Fort. 

Fort  No.  16,  which  is  on  the  main  line  of  defenses  surrounding  Port 
Arthur,  was  taken  by  the  Japanese  on  July  6. 

Continuing,  the  Chinaman  declared  that  Russians  in  Port  Arthur 
said  that  a  Russian  regiment  which  was  out  reconnoitering  was  driven 
back  by  the  three  Japanese  regiments,  who  were  in  turn  surrounded 
by  two  regiments  of  Cossacks  and  wiped  out. 

Japs  Hide  War  Secrets. 

Operations  of  paramount  importance  went  on  within  the  war  zone 
during  July,  but  the  government  successfully  succeeded  in  veiling  them 
in  almost  absolute  secrecy.  Since  the  occupation  of  Dalny  the  govern- 
ment officials  were  absolutely  silent  concerning  conditions  at  Port 
Arthur.  It  was  generally  believed,  however,  that  the  Japanese  army 
and  navy  were  daily  tightening  their  relentless  grip  on  the  besieged 
city,  and  that  a  final  assault,  followed  by  the  fall  of  the  fortress,  was 
now  only  a  matter  of  weeks. 

The  fleet  of  Admiral  Togo  was  in  motion  day  and  night  and  was 
frequently  engaged,  but  the  forces  and  number  of  guns  of  the  besiegers 
were  secrets  which  probably  would  not  be  revealed  until  the  final  and 
decisive  action.  Fragmentary  information  from  various  sources,  espe- 
cially Chinese,  reached  Japan,  but  its  publication  was  forbidden  under 
a  severe  penalty. 

Embargo  on  News  Absolute. 

Much  concerning  the  siege  of  Port  Arthur  could  be  published  with- 
out injury  to  the  Japanese  cause,  but  the  general  staff,  resolved  to 
avoid  aiding  St.  Petersburg  or  Gen.  Kouropatkin  with  a  single  shred 
of  information,  placed  an  absolute  embargo  on  the  transmission  of  all 
news. 

No  foreigner  accompanied  either  the  Japanese  forces  which  were 
besieging  Port  Arthur,  the  army  under  Gen.  Oku,  or  the  army  which 


422  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

was  landed  at  Takushan,  and  the  newspaper  correspondents  and  for» 
eign  attaches  with  Gen.  Kuroki  were  made  to  remain  within  a  circle 
having  a  radius  of  a  little  over  half  a  mile. 

Many  false  reports  concerning  the  war  operations  were  sent  abroad. 
These  the  Japanese  welcome  as  being  just  so  much  more  chaff  and 
sand  thrown  in  the  eyes  of  the  enemy. 

Tell  of  800  Russian  Dead. 

A  dispatch  from  Chefoo  stated  that  on  Tuesday,  July  5,  Chinese 
carriers  brought  into  the  town  over  800  Russian  dead,  two  of  whom 
were  high  officials.  It  also  said  that  a  part  of  the  Japanese  force  had 
advanced  to  within  six  miles  of  the  besieged  town,  taking  another  east- 
■ern  fort. 

In  the  fighting  which  occurred  on  July  4  over  the  possession  of  one 
of  the  hills  northeast  of  Port  Arthur,  the  Russians  lost  100  men  killed 
and  fifty  men  wounded.  Fifty  Chinese  carriers  were  sent  out  to  bring 
in  the  Russian  dead  and  wounded. 

Japs  Seven  Miles  from  Fortress. 

On  July  10  a  fair  wind  brought  a  fleet  of  junks  from  Port  Arthur, 
carrying  both  Chinese  and  Europeans.  Reports  which  they  brought  of 
conditions  at  Port  Arthur  were  contradictory,  but  they  all  said  that  a 
Japanese  division  from  the  northward  was  intrenching  seven  miles 
from  the  marine  camp,  while  another  division  from  the  eastward  was 
fighting  continuously,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  fleet  was  endeavoring 
to  gain  a  position  commanding  the  town  and  naval  basin. 

A  European  stated  that  the  fighting  to  the  eastward  of  Port  Arthur 
Jiad  been  heavy  for  several  days,  the  Japanese  ships  along  the  shore 
shelling  the  Russian  position  in  the  hills.  The  smoke  from  the  artillery 
•on  the  hills  around  Port  Arthur  was  seen  almost  continuously.  Dead 
and  wounded  were  being  brought  in  at  all  hours,  and  many  private 
houses  were  turned  into  hospitals. 

Only  skirmishes  occurred  to  the  northward.  The  main  Japanese 
force  was  ten  miles  away,  but  Japanese  scouts  were  seen  is  the  vicinity 


NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS.  423 

of  the  main  camp,  which  commanded  the  principal  pass  to  the  hills, 
directly  back  of  Port  Arthur.  On  the  nights  of  July  2,  3  and  4  the 
Japanese  fleet  bombarded  the  roads  from  the  south  of  the  town. 

Togo  Attacks  Port  Arthur. 

On  Friday  night,  July  8,  during  a  storm,  a  flotilla  of  torpedo  boaJ;s  of 
Admiral  Togo's  fleet  approached  Port  Arthur.  On  the  following  morn- 
ing one  of  the  torpedo  boats  found  and  attacked  the  Russian  cruiser 
Askold.  The  Askold  fired  on  the  torpedo  boat,  two  petty  officers  being 
severely  wounded. 

On  Monday,  July  11,  Japanese  torpedo  boats  approached  the  boom 
at  the  entrance  of  Port  Arthur  and  attacked  a  Russian  guardship  of 
the  Diana  type  with  torpedoes. 

The  Russian  cruisers  Bayan,  Diana,  Pallada,  and  Novik,  with  two 
gunboats  and  seven  destroyers,  preceded  by  mine  clearing  steamers, 
made  a  sortie  from  Port  Arthur  on  the  morning  of  July  9  and  reached 
a  point  between  Senikaku  and  Lungwantan.  They  were  attacked  by 
Japanese  torpedo  boats  and  returned  to  Port  Arthur,  which  they  re- 
entered at  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

Jap  Cruisers  Joined  in  Fight. 

Admiral  Togo's  amplified  report  of  the  Russian  sortie  stated  that 
the  Japanese  torpedo  boat  destroyer  which  signaled  the  enemy's  pres- 
ence was  attacked.  The  Novik  appeared  to  be  crippled.  The  Bayan 
steamed  ahead,  engaging  the  Japanese  destroyers,  which  retired,  but 
four  Japanese  cruisers  speedily  arrived  and  assisted  in  the  attack.  They 
impeded  the  Russian  steamers  that  were  dragging  for  mines.  One 
Russian  warship,  keeping  inshore  under,  the  batteries,  crept  nearly  to 
Lungwangtung,  probably  meaning  to  support  a  fort  that  was  meeting 
a  land  attack.  According  to  unofficial  accounts,  the  boom  at  the  en- 
trance of  Port  x\rthur  is  formed  of  logs,  with  their  ends  outward.  They 
are  joined  by  three  cables.  The  Russians  were  able  to  anchor  in  deep 
water  behind  the  boom. 


424  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS. 

On  August  I  it  was  reported  that  the  Japanese  occupied  every  posi- 
tion surrounding  the  besieged  fortress  except  Golden  hill.  It  was  also 
rumored  Port  Arthur  had  been  taken,  but  the  reports  were  generally 
traceable  to  Chinese  refugees.  There  was  very  severe  fighting  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  fortress  during  the  latter  days  of  July. 
A  dispatch  from  Chefoo,  dated  July  29,  stated : 

"A  junk  containing  thirty  refugees  from  Port  Arthur,  who  are  all 
foreigners  of  the  better  class,  arrived  here  to-night  from  Port  Arthur. 

"The  refugees  report  that  exceedingly  heavy  fighting  by  land  and 
by  sea  to  the  east  and  the  northeast  of  Port  Arthur  occurred  on  Tues- 
day, Wednesday,  and  Thursday  of  this  week,  and  they  express  the 
belief  that  a  general  assault  was  begun  on  Thursday. 

"They  say  that  this  bombardment  was  the  heaviest  experienced 
since  the  beginning  of  the  siege,  and  that  the  Russian  forts  made  little 
reply  to  the  Japanese  fire. 

Russians  Short  of  Ammunition. 

"Ammunition  is  said  to  be  growing  scarce,  and  the  large  fort  guns 
arc  not  often  discharged.  Attempts  to  manufacture  ammunition  in 
Port  Arthur  are  reported  to  have  been  failures. 

"All  public  buildings  are  being  used  for  hospitals.  The  sick  and 
wounded  are  being  well  cared  for  by  volunteer  nurses.  The  wounds 
made  by  the  Japanese  rifles  are  not  dangerous  except  when  vital  spots 
are  reached.  Hundreds  of  badly  wounded  have  quickly  recovered  from 
their  wounds." 

"Field  Marshal  Marquis  Oyama,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  left  Port 
Dalny  on  Tuesday.  He  is  conducting  the  Japanese  operations  in  per- 
son." 


CHAPTER  XXXm. 
JAPANESE  STRATEGY   TRIUMPHS. 

Victory  at  Anshanshan — Oku  and  Nodzu  Join  Forces — Beginning  of  the  Nine  Days  Battle 
— General  Kuroki  Attempts  to  Surround  the  Russian  Army — Terrific  Artillery  Fir© 
— Hand  to  Hand  Conflicts — ^Frightful  Loss  of  Life — The  Russian  Line  Forced  Back — 
Liaoyang  on  Fire — Capture  of  the  City — ^Kouropatkin  Retreats  to  Mukden — Situation 
at  Port  Arthur. 

THE  movements  of  the  Japanese  armies,  under  Field  Marshal 
Oyama,  in  the  series  of  desperate  battles  which  preceded  the  fall 
of  Liaoyang,  may  be  summarized  as  follows :  On  August  26th  the  army 
under  General  Oku  going  north  met  the  Russian  forces  entrenched  at 
Anshanshan  and  bombarded  the  position  throughout  the  day,  causing 
the  Russians  to  retire.  A  juncture  was  then  effected  with  the  army 
under  General  Nodzu.  On  the  same  day  General  Kuroki  advanced 
throughout  the  night  and  day  over  almost  roadless  mountains,  pushing 
the  army  before  him,  but  out  of  touch  with  the  other  Japanese  forces. 

The  Chessboard  of  War. 

August  27th  saw  the  beginning  of  a  nine  days  battle  which  was  one 
of  the  most  sanguinary  engagements  in  history.  The  conflict  commenced 
with  an  artillery  duel  between  the  Russian  and  Japanese  forces,  the  lat- 
ter moving  slowly  forward.  In  the  meantime  General  Kuroki  had  made 
a  rapid  change  of  base  from  Anping  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  railroad 
with  the  left  wing  ten  miles  north  of  Liaoyang.  On  the  following  day 
the  armies  under  Oku  and  Nodzu  continued  the  advance,  pushing  the 
Russians  back  and  capturing  the  town  of  Anshanshan.  General  Kuroki 
attempted  to  cut  the  railroad,  Kouropatkin's  only  way  of  escape,  leav- 
ing a  wide  gap  between  himself  and  Greneral  Oku.  On  August  29th 
there  was  desultory  fighting,  the  Russians  taking  advantage  of  the 
respite  to  fortify  a  position  in  the  Shonshanpao  hills.     General  Kuroki 

425 


426  JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS. 

continued  fighting,  making  an  effort  to  effect  a  movement  surrounding 
the  foixes  of  General  Kouropatkin. 

On  August  30th  the  armies  of  Oku  and.Nodzu  working  together, 
"began  an  attack  on  the  Russian  position.  There  was  continuous  artillery- 
firing  throughout  for  two  days,  the  Japanese  forces  moving  up  to  within 
one  thousand  yards  of  the  Russians.  On  September  ist.  General  Kuroki 
had  reached  a  point  three  miles  from  the  railroad  with  the  right  ready 
to  start  and  the  armies  of  Oku  and  Nodzu  attacked  the  Russian  center, 
taking  a  series  of  hills  after  desperate  charges  with  heavy  loss,  forcing 
the  Russians  to  evacuate  toward  Liaoyang.  The  captured  hills  proved 
to  be  the  Russian's  first  line  of  defense  and  an  attack  of  the  Japanese 
was  made  on  a  second  strong  Russian  position  across  the  plain.  The 
Japanese  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  Kuroki's  attack  was  made  at 
sunset  September  2nd,  forcing  the  Russians  to  retire  close  to  the  defense 
at  the  walls  of  Liaoyang.  General  Kuroki  failed  in  his  attempt  to  sur- 
round the  Russian  army,  being  held  at  bay  by  General  Kouropatkin's 
superior  forces,  while  the  latter  successfully  retreated.  On  September 
.3rd  another  combined  attack  in  the  morning  by  the  Japanese  on  the 
liussian  position,  which  was  renewed  in  the  afternoon  and  during  the 
night,  ended  when  the  Russians  began  to  withdraw  from  the  town.  On 
the  following  day  fighting  was  renewed  with  comparatively  small  Rus- 
sian resistance  and  the  Japanese  entered  the  city  which  late  in  the  even- 
ing was  evacuated  finally  by  the  Russians. 

Greatest  Artillery  Duel  in  History. 

The  capture  of  Liaoyang  was  accomplished  after  nine  days  of  des- 
perate fighting,  during  which  time,  although  the  artillery  arm  carried 
out  its  part  of  one  of  the  greatest  duels  the  world  has  ever  seen,  there 
occurred  some  of  the  most  desperate  infantry  charges  of  modern  times. 
At  dawn  August  30th,  three  days  after  the  capture  of  Anshanshan,  the 
Japanese  began  an  artillery  attack  upon  the  Russian's  strongly  fortified 
positions  in  the  Shonshanpao  hills,  eight  miles  south  of  Liaoyang,  the 
army  under  General  Oku  bringing  216  guns  to  bear  upon  the  Russian 
fortifications. 


JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS.  427 

This  artillery  duel  lasted  all  day  Aug.  30  without  any  appreciable 
result.  At  dawn  on  Aug.  31  the  artillery  fire  was  resumed  and  the 
Japanese  drove  a  few  Russian  troops  from  an  unfortified  hill  on  the 
-extreme  right  and  then  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  capture  a  forti- 
iied  hill  on  the  Russian  left.  During  the  morning  the  artillery  duel  was 
continued  with  increasing  strength,  the  Russians  answering  shot  for 
shot. 

The  Japanese  guns  were  hidden  under  ripening  corn  eight  feet  high, 
and  they  were  hardly  visible  to  the  enemy,  who  searched  the  corn  fields 
with  shrapnel.  The  fire  caused  heavy  Japanese  losses,  but  it  failed  to 
silence  the  guns.  As  the  morning  wore  on  the  Japanese  brought  into 
action  four  fifteen  centimeter  guns,  captured  from  the  Russians  at  Nan- 
shan  hill,  using  in  them  against  the  Russian  position  ammunition  taken 
from  the  enemy.  These  guns  and  their  ammunition  had  been  drawn  by 
hand  over  the  railroad  for  nearly  200  miles. 

At  II  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  fire  of  all  the  Japanese  guns  was 
-concentrated  on  the  trench  at  the  end  of  a  hill  on  the  extreme  left  of  the 
Russian  position.  For  an  hour  shell  and  shrapnel  were  rained  in  this 
trench  and  the  smoke  of  bursting  shrapnel  and  the  dust  of  exploding 
shells  hid  the  position  from  sight.  The  artillery  ceased  at  noon  and  the 
Japanese  infantry  then  charged  from  an  adjoining  hill  in  the  face  of  a 
heavy  fire  from  the  trench  itself  and  a  terrible  crossfire  from  Russian 
artillery  posted  on  another  hill  to  the  rear. 

Charging  the  Russian  Trenches. 

Strong  wire  entanglements,  military  pits,  and  exploding  mines  failed 
to  stop  the  advance,  and  in  spite  of  the  enormous  casualties  they  took 
the  trench  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  driving  the  Russians  back  the 
length  of  the  hill.  As  soon  as  the  Japanese  were  in  possession  of  this 
-trench  the  Russians  turned  the  fire  of  scores  of  guns  against  them  in  an 
effort  to  dislodge  them.  This  heavy  fire  was  maintained  until  nightfall, 
t)ut  did  not  drive  the  Japanese  out. 

Both  sides  kept  up  an  artillery  fire  all  through  the  night  of  Aug.  31, 
.iind  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Sept.   i  the  Japanese  attacked  the 


428  JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS. 

center  Russian  position.  This  was  a  hill  defended  by  three  lines  of 
intrenchments.  The  bottom  of  the  hill  was  defended  by  wire  entangle- 
ments, pits,  and  ditches. 

Japanese  engineers  cut  the  entanglements  after  terrible  slaughter,. 
one  detachment  losing  seventy-seven  out  of  eighty  men.  The  men  of 
Nagoya,  the  flower  of  the  second  army,  were  assigned  to  charge  this 
hill.  They  took  the  first  trenches  with  a  rush.  In  the  second  trench 
they  met  the  enemy  in  a  hand  to  hand  fight,  and  went  on  to  the  top  of 
the  hill,  treading  on  their  own  dead.  The  trench  at  the  crest  of  the  hill 
was  taken  after  another  hand  to  hand  fight,  the  Russians  being  driven 
out  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and  with  clubbed  guns. 

Dead  in  Each  Other's  Arms. 

Thousands  were  killed  in  this  charge  and  the  trenches  were  filled 
with  the  mingled  bodies  of  Japanese  and  Russians.  In  many  cases  at- 
tackers and  defenders  were  found  dead  clutched  in  each  other's  arms. 
No  more  desperate  charge  was  ever  made. 

The  position  apparently  was  unassailable  and  it  should  have  been 
held  by  one  man  against  twenty.  The  taking  of  this  hill  ended  the  de- 
fense of  this  line  of  positions,  the  Russian  right  evacuating  after  slight 
resistance. 

At  daylight  of  Sept.  i  the  Japanese  flag  floated  over  the  hills,  and 
the  Russians  had  retired  in  good  order  toward  Liaoyang. 

The  Russian  Defense  Proves  Strong. 

In  the  meantime  the  Japanese  left  had  tried  flanking  movements 
around  the  hills.  The  Russian  forces  stretched  along  the  railroad  em- 
bankment put  up  a  strong  defense,  holding  the  Japanese  steadily.  It 
was  believed  that  after  the  defeat  in  the  hills  the  Russians  retreated  to 
the  north  through  the  city,  but  the  outcome  showed  that  the  hills  were 
only  the  first  line  of  the  defenses  of  Liaoyang.  As  the  Japanese  left 
advanced  the  night  of  Sept.  2  it  discovered  a  strong  Russian  position  on 
the  plain,  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  learned  that  these  defenses  ran 


JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS.  429 

across  the  plain  for  several  miles.  The  left  charged  against  the  enemy, 
but  they  were  driven  back  with  he^vy  losses. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Japanese  center  and  right  had  moved  forward 
and  a  general  charge  was  ordered  at  sunset.  The  Japanese  guns  bom- 
barded the  Russian  defenses  for  one  hour  before  the  sun  went  down, 
and  then  the  infantry  charged.  The  left  was  successful  in  driving  the 
Russians  out  of  their  position,  but  the  right  and  center  did  not  achieve 
as  favorable  a  result.  They  forced  the  Russians,  however,  to  retire  to 
the  defenses  close  to  the  walls  of  Liaoyang.  Here  another  desperate 
stand  was  made,  the  Japanese  pouring  shell  and  shrapnel  into  the  Rus- 
sian position  all  day  of  Sept.  3,  while  the  Russian  batteries  replied  to  this 
fire  shot  for  shot.  The  Russian  artillery  was  located  in  exceedingly  well 
built  emplacements,  which  afforded  them  complete  protection. 

Shortly  after  noon  of  Sept.  3  it  was  seen  that  the  Russians  had  begun 
to  burn  the  city.  Great  piles  of  stores  near  the  railroad  were  set  on  fire 
and  many  buildings  were  destroyed.  From  behind  the  smoke  of  the 
burning  buildings  a  constant  fire  was  kept  up  from  the  batteries  located 
near  the  railroad. 

On  the  right  the  Russians  manned  the  walls  of  the  old  Chinese  city. 
The  Japanese  consequently  directed  their  artillery  fire  against  these 
Avails,  and  150  were  wounded  as  a  result.  The  Japanese  gun  fire  also  did 
much  damage  to  the  Russian  troops  who  were  intrenched  at  the  railroad 
station. 

Liaoyang  Occupied  by  the  Japanese. 

During  the  night  of  Sept.  3  the  last  of  the  Russian  forces  withdrew 
from  Liaoyang,  and  early  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  the  Japanese  occu- 
pied the  town. 

The  fighting  of  these  five  days  was  the  hardest  of  the  war.  The 
Russian  positions  in  the  hills  south  of  Liaoyang  were  stronger  than 
those  at  Nanshan  hill,  and  more  stubbornly  defended.  A  wait  of  a  few 
days  would  have  allowed  the  Japanese  to  outflank  these  positions  with 
comparatively  small  losses,  but  the  desperate  straits  of  the  fourth  and 
first  Japanese  armies  to  the  north  required  that  the  Russian  forces  facing 


430  JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS. 

the  second  army  under  Gen.  Oku  be  disposed  of  instantly,  in  order  t(y 
prevent  the  sending  of  reinforcements  to  the  Russians  opposing  the- 
other  Japanese  armies. 

The  Russian  position  on  the  plain  was  scored  with  trenches  and  for- 
tifications. At  one  point  the  trenches  occupied  by  the  Russians  were 
permanent  works  of  immense  strength,  capable  of  protecting  an  entire 
brigade  and  absolutely  unassailable.  It  was  only  by  forcing  back  the 
Russian  right  by  a  desperate  rush  that  the  Japanese  were  able  to  make 
the  Russians  retire  from  this  most  excellent  position.  Fully  five  miles 
of  covered  and  connecting  trenches  gave  the  Russians  an  opportunity 
to  retire  to  the  city  with  little  loss. 

The  gun  position  on  the  plain  was  elaborately  protected.  There  was 
a -portable  railroad  from  the  city  to  the  outer  trenches  for  the  transporta— 
tion  of  ammunition  and  supplies. 

General  Kuroki's  Flanking  Movement. 

A  well  known  authority,  in  commenting  upon  the  battle,  said  that  if 
the  Japanese  had  attempted  to  take  Liaoyang  by  direct  assault  they 
would  have  failed,  but  the  flanking  movement  of  Kuroki  who  threatened 
to  get  behind  the  Russians,  compelled  them  to  evacuate  the  town.  It  is 
not  an  easy  matter  to  surround  and  capture  an  army.  General  Kuroki 
marching  from  his  bridges  across  the  Taitze  had  twice  as  far  to  go  ta 
reach  the  railroad  above  Liaoyang  as  Kouropatkin,  who  was  in  the  town 
and  on  the  railroad.  In  addition,  the  Russian  general  had  steam  to  in- 
crease his  mobility,  while  General  Kuroki  must  force  his  men  and  trans- 
ports over  muddy  roads,  so  that  small  forces  in  good  positions  could 
delay  the  latter  while  there  were  no  forces  on  the  railroad  to  delay 
Kouropatkin.  Notwithstanding  this  one  failure  in  the  Japanese  plan, 
the  victory  of  Liaoyang  was  complete  and  overwhelming. 

General  Kouropatkin  Deposed. 

The  Japanese  staff  was  disappointed  over  the  escape  of  Kouropatkin,. 
and  Emperor  Mutsuhito  ordered  Field  Marshal  Oyama  to  resume  the 
offensive  at  once.     The  order  was  obeyed  with  startling  rapidity  and 


JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS.  431 

Kuroki's  army  by  a  series  of  quick  marches  swung  around  the  Russian 
forces,  crossed  the  Hun  river  and  advanced  toward  Mukden  with  125,- 
000  men.  On  September  25th  the  sensation  of  the  day  in  Russian  mili- 
tary circles  was  the  publication  of  the  imperial  ukase  in  which  the  Czar 
announced  that  as  Japan  had  shown  such  unexpected  fighting  powers, 
it  was  necessary  for  Russia  to  create  a  second  army,  the  command  of 
which  he  gave  to  General  Grippenberg.  This  deposed  Kouropatkin  from 
his  position  of  Commander-in-Chief,  for  in  future  he  would  rank  equally 
with  General  Grippenberg.  At  the  same  time  it  was  announced  that 
Major-General  Orloff,  whom  Kouropatkin  blamed  for  the  Russian  defeat 
at  Liaoyang,  had  been  dismissed  from  the  army.  On  September  25th 
it  was  reported  that  General  Kuroki's  army  stretched  from  Bensihu  to- 
Bentsiaputze,  and  the  armies  of  Oku  and  Nodzu  from  Yentai  along  the 
high  road  and  railroad  to  Shahepu,  sixteen  miles  south  of  Mukden,  while- 
a  fourth  army  was  going  across  the  Da  mountains.  All  these  roads 
converge  at  Mukden.  The  armies  of  Oku  and  Nodzu  were  nearest  Muk- 
den, but  their  progress  was  slackened  in  order  to  permit  Kuroki  and  the 
flanking  columns  time  to  come  up;  meanwhile  the  former  had  command 
of  the  railroad. 

Japanese  Operations  Carefully  Screened. 

During  the  latter  days  of  September,  the  campaign  was  shrouded  in 
mystery.  There  were  several  skirmishes  in  the  neighborhood  of  Da 
and  Tie  passes,  but  it  was  believed  that  they  were  merely  offensive 
movements  intended  to  mask  more  important  operations.  This  constant 
shifting  of  the  Japanese  outposts  hid  the  soldier  movements  behind  from 
the  Russians,  while  the  Japanese  censorship  allowed  no  news  to  leak  out. 
On  September  29th  it  was  reported  that  the  main  Russian  army  had 
withdrawn  to  the  north  of  Mukden  and  the  belief  was  growing  that 
General  Kouropatkin  would  make  no  effort  to  hold  the  town. 

Stoessel's  Defense  of  Port  Arthur. 

The  gallant  fighting  of  General  Stoessel  at  Port  Arthur  will  rank  in 
history  with  Osman's  defense  of  Plevna.    Surrounded  by  an  overwhelm- 


432  JAPANESE  STRATEGY  TRIUMPHS. 

ing  force,  with  ammunition  nearly  exhausted,  starvation  staring  him  in 
the  face,  he  obstinately  refused  to  surrender.  In  the  latter  part  of 
August,  the  Japanese  took  four  outlying  forts  in  front  of  Rihlingkikwang. 
They  immediately  strengthened  these  places  and  by  September  15th  had 
made  them  into  almost  impregnable  fortifications.  On  September  17th 
the  Russians  made  a  sortie  at  the  previously  captured  Fort  Etse,  but 
were  driven  back.  On  September  19th  the  Japanese  took  nine  forts  by 
direct  assault,  losing  three  thousand  men.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
20th,  the  Mikado's  troops  took  two  supplementary  forts,  which  from 
their  positions  were  deemed  of  great  strategic  importance.  On  Sep- 
tember 26th  it  was  believed  that  the  crisis  at  Port  Arthur  was  rapidly 
approaching  and  a  speedy  capture  of  the  last  line  of  defenses  anticipated. 
The  successful  assaults  of  the  19th  and  20th  practically  sealed  the  fate 
of  the  fortress,  enabling  the  besiegers  to  mount  heavy  guns  on  the  hills 
to  the  eastward,  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  town  and  the  harbor. 
On  October  ist  the  Japanese  possessed  all  the  principal  fortifications 
around  Port  Arthur  except  those  of  Golden  hill,  Kikwanshan  and  Liau- 
tishan,  which  the  Russians  held.  The  approach  to  the  western  port  was 
still  open,  but  while  the  movements  of  the  Japanese  were  slow  and  cau- 
tious, owing  to  the  fact  that  the  ground  was  extensively  mined,  Japanese 
^uns  were  searching  every  part  of  Port  Arthur  causing  terrible  havoc. 


>;?i.  .  ^-.rvn.::^;-''.  •< :  vy^*^?ri:^ii^jS?.::2¥¥.*..r:^.,.A_  v.,  i 


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GENERAL  KUEOKI  AT  UAOYANG. 

General  Kuroki  was  the  first  of  the  Japanese  generals  to  take  the  field.  He  was 
born  in  the  province  of  Satsunia  in  1843,  springing  from  the  Samurai  or  warrior  class, 
and  was  trained  from  infancy  in  lessons  of  courage,  endurance  and  chivalry.  General 
Kuroki  was  renowned  throughout  the  war  for  daring  and  energy.  He  has  been  described 
as  tb»  ideal  soldier  in  appearance,  with  a  face  full  of  great  power. 


IN  THE  STREETS  OF  LIAOYANG. 

This  picture  illustrates  an  incident  which  took  place  in  the  walled  town  of  Liaoyang 
just  before  it  was  evacuated  by  the  Russian  troops.  The  quarter  shown  above  was  held 
by  a  regiment  of  Siberian  rifles;  during  the  night  a  brigade  of  Japanese  troops  was 
pushed  forward  and,  at  sunrise,  after  a  bloody  struggle,  the  Czar's  soldiers  were  defeated 
an#  dri-en    out   of   the   town.      The   street   fight,   while   it   lasted,  was  very  fierce. 


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GENERAL  KOUROPATKIN  ON  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER. 

Tn  the  battles  of  Liaoyang  and  the  Shakhe  River,  General  Konropatkin  displayed 
t]je  first  qualification  of  a  great  general,  which  is  to  be  able  to  conduct  an  orderly  retreat. 
Tn  the  latter  engagement,  while  he  personally  displayed  desperate  energy,  he  was  calm 
and  unmoved  even  when  fortune  was  hardest  against  the  Russians  and  succeeded  in  with- 
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Commander  of  the  Jajtanese   Army  that   Captured   Port   Arthur. 


V 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER 

Kottropatkin'g  Advance — His  Defeat  and  Betreat — Valor  of  the  Ozar's  Troops — Sixty 
Thousand  Killed  and  Wounded — Every  Foot  of  Ground  Stubbornly  Contested — The 
Storming  of  Lone  Tree  Hill — A  Night  Attack — The  Russians  Give  No  Quarter — 
Sickening  Slaughter — The  Japanese  Victorious — A  Lull  in  Hostilities — The  World's 
BJoodiest  Battles. 

REPORTS  of  the  Japanese  generals  covering  the  operations  dur- 
ing the  first  ten  days  of  October  tell  of  minor  engagements  and 
the  occupation  of  strategic  positions  by  both  armies.  The  movements 
appeared  to  be  preparatory  to  a  severe  conflict,  which  both  armies 
would  endeavor  to  make  decisive.  Then  the  world  was  electrified  by 
tlie  announcement  that  General  Kouropatkin  had  about-faced  his  army 
and  was  marching  against  the  enemy.  Oyama  showed  no  desire  to  hold 
his  outer  positions,  and  the  evacuation  of  Bentsiaputze  gave  color  to  the 
reports  that  the  Japanese  were  retreating  before  the  Russian  forces. 

The  Russian  Advance  Checked. 

Dispatches  of  October  nth  told  of  a  battle  raging  along  an  extended 
front  from  a  central  point  north  of  Yentai  westward  across  the  railroad 
south  of  Bensihu,  on  the  Taitse  river.  Field  Marshal  Oyama's  attack 
was  nicely  timed  to  interrupt  the  strong  turning  movement  that  was 
threatening  Liaoyang.  Oku's  army,  on  the  west  of  the  railroad,  fought 
its  way  to  a  point  twelve  miles  south  of  Mukden  to  another  point  a  few 
miles  still  farther  east.  On  the  east  General  Kuroki  delivered  a  flank 
attack  which  crumpled  up  the  left  wing  of  the  Russian  army,  while 
Nodzu's  forces  succeeded  in  driving  a  wedge  into  the  Russian  center. 

The  following  is  the  Russian  account  of  Kouropatkin's  advance,  his 
<kfeat  and  retreat: 

433 


434  YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER. 

After  seven  days  of  the  hardest  kind  of  fighting  the  Russian  army- 
fell  back  on  the  Shakhe  river  and  held  a  position  on  the  north  side  of 
that  stream.  The  fighting,  vv^hich  commenced  shortly  after  noon  Oc- 
tober 9,  had  been  in  progress  for  seven  days.  On  October  9  the  Rus- 
sians advanced  to  the  southeast,  crossing  the  Shakhe  river,  thence  ta 
Hamantung,  twenty  miles  southeast  of  Mukden  and  ten  miles  north 
of  Yentai.  On  the  hills  around  Hamantung  the  Japanese  had  planted- 
four  batteries.  Upon  the  advance  of  the  Russians  these  batteries  retired 
to  the  southward  across  a  narrow  valley,  which  runs  east  and  west,  and 
joined  the  main  Japanese  force  on  the  hills  beyond.  In  the  fighting 
around  Hamantung  a  few  Japanese  prisoners  were  taken. 

Japs  Retreat  at  First. 

-  The  Russians  followed  the  Japanese  across  the  valley,  taking  posi- 
tions in  the  foothills,  from  which  the  artillery  shelled  the  Japanese  force, 
while  the  infantry  advanced  through  the  defiles.  October  10  the  artil- 
lery duel  continued,  the  Russians  advancing  slowly.  During  the  night 
the  Japanese  changed  their  positions,  and  at  daylight  enfiladed  the 
trenches,  pouring  a  terrific  shrapnel  fire  on  the  infantry,  composed  of 
one  regiment,  only  a  remnant  of  which  was  left. 

The  Mikado's  Troops  Take  the  Offensive. 

From  this  on  the  Japanese  took  the  ofifensive  the  entire  day  of  the 
eleventh,  throwing  shrapnel  and  shimose  powder  shells  among  the  in- 
fantry and  artillery.     The  Russians  held  tenaciously  to  their  positions. 

Early  in  the  day  the  Japanese  began  to  work  around  the  Russian 
left  and  succeeded  in  dropping  a  few  shells  on  the  road  and  in  the  vil- 
lages where  the  transport  and  reserves  were  gathered.  The  Japanese 
had  the  range  of  the  road  and  village  perfectly.  They  compelled  the 
men  and  wagons  to  take  to  the  fields.  This  shelling  did  little  damage 
beyond  disconcerting  the  men  and  horses. 

Additional  guns  were  sent  forward  to  protect  the  left,  while  the  bat- 
teries withdrew  across  the  plains  to  the  hills  on  the  north  side.  This 
gave  the  Japanese  possession  of  a  high  hill  on  the  south  side,  from  which 


YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER.  435 

they  shelled  the  valley  through  which  the  Russians  had  advanced  dur- 
ing the  evening.  The  Japanese  apparently  suffered  greatly  from  the 
Russian  fire. 

The  morning  of  the  12th  found  little  change  in  the  positions  of  the 
two  armies,  except  that  the  Japanese  had  worked  further  around  to  the 
left.  Probably  the  greatest  artillery  fight  of  the  battle  took  place  on 
October  12.  Batteries  were  placed  on  every  available  hill,  and  at  the 
same  time  regiment  after  regiment  of  infantry  was  poured  into  the 
plain  by  both  sides,  only  to  be  thrown  back,  shattered  and  torn. 

During  the  night  a  heavy  rainstorm  occurred,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  artillery  continued  to  boom,  and  at  one  point  the  Japanese  infantry 
charged. 

Fighting  Hand  to  Hand. 

They  were  met  by  Russian  infantrymen  in  the  darkness,  which  was 
lighted  only  by  flashes  of  guns,  the  bursting  of  shells,  and  the  streaks 
of  lightning.  The  men  fought  hand  to  hand,  the  Japanese  regiment 
being  finally  driven  back. 

The  thunder  and  rain  continued  all  the  morning,  of  the  T3th,  but,  not- 
withstanding, the  guns  opened  fire  promptly  at  daylight.  The  Russians 
fought  stubbornly,  but  retired  slowly.  The  Japanese  continued  to 
threaten  the  Russian  left.  Toward  the  evening  the  Japanese  opened 
with  all  their  guns  on  the  Russian  positions,  the  shells  dropping  like  hail 
in  the  field  and  on  the  hills. 

The  Russian  Army  Retires. 

The  morning  of  the  14th  found  the  Russians  with  their  backs  to  the 
Shakhe  river,  across  which  transports  had  been  withdrawn  during  the 
night.  Fighting  continued  from  these  positions  all  during  the  day  of 
the  14th,  while  the  Russian  reinforcements  took  up  positions  on  the 
hills  to  the  north  of  the  river.  Another  thunder  storm  broke  shortly 
after  noon,  flooding  the  streams  and  turning  the  roads  into  seas,  and 
by  evening  the  main  Russian  force  had  withdrawn  across  the  Shakhe 
river.  The  Japanese  shells  were  dropping  within  a  short  distance  of 
the  river  on  the  left. 


436  YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER. 

The  fighting  recommenced  at  daylight,  the  boom  of  guns  being  dis- 
tinctly heard  in  Mukden.  The  whole  Russian  army  then  slowly  retired, 
and  fighting  every  inch  of  the  way.  The  result  of  the  battle  so  far  was 
that  the  Japanese  army  held  a  line  practically  the  same  as  at  the  begin- 
ning, but  fifteen  miles  further  north. 

Russian  Troops  Worn  Out. 

The  Czar's  troops  behaved  with  the  utmost  valor.  They  repeatedly 
attacked  impregnable  positions,  despite  their  terrible  fatigue  and  the 
shortness  of  food.  They  were  worn  out.  Human  strength  could  not 
do  more  than  they  did.    Every  available  man  and  gun  was  engaged. 

The  troops  were  pitifully  mortified  by  their  nonsuccess.  Officers  and 
men  alike  showed  unyielding  tenacity  and  sacrificed  themselves  un- 
grudgingly. 

General  Kouropatkin  personally  displayed  desperate  energy.  More 
than  once  shrapnel  fell  about  him  as  he  moved  to  and  fro,  directing 
everything.  He  was  unmoved  even  when  fortune  went  hardest  against 
the  Russians. 

The  Russians  fought  as  a  matter  of  pride ;  Manchuria  was  forgotten. 
They  felt  that  they  could  not  stop;  that  they  must  win  one  battle. 

The  surface  of  the  country  was  horrible  for  retreat.  The  concus- 
sion of  the  hundreds  of  guns  caused  heavy  rain  and  thunder  storms  dur- 
ing the  last  three  days,  turning  every  valley  into  a  quagmire,  and  every 
stream  into  a  torrent. 

Sixty  Thousand  Killed  and  Wounded. 

With  more  than  lo.ooo  dead  left  on  the  field  of  battle,  the  Russian 
casualties  were  estimated  to  be  at  least  60,000  in  killed  and  wounded 
in  the  battle  from  October  10  to  October  15,  inclusive.  Oku's  army 
buried  2,000  Russian  dead.  Kuroki  buried  4,500,  with  many  unaccounted 
for.  Nodzu  buried  2,500.  These  figures  do  not  include  the  killed  on 
October  14  and  15.  This  exceeded  the  losses  in  the  battle  of  Liao- 
yang,  which  aggregated  40,000  in  killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides. 


YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER.  437 

Kouropatkin's  army,  shattered  but  still  fighting  desperately,  stub- 
bornly, valorously,  slowly  retreated,  leaving  thousands  dead  on  the  field 
of  battle.  The  rear-guard  near  Shakhe  covered  the  retreat,  even  taking 
the  aggressive  at  times,  and  repeatedly  hurling  back  the  Japanese  as- 
saults. 

The  Struggle  on  Lone  Tree  Hill. 

On  the  night  of  October  16,  the  Russians,  after  one  of  the  most 
spectacular  pieces  of  battle  work,  captured  Lone  Tree  hill,  at  the  ex- 
treme east  of  the  line.  They  recaptured  Shakhe  station  on  the  extreme 
west  of  the  line  and  the  village  of  Shanlandtzy,  half  way  between  Shakhe 
and  Lone  Tree  hill. 

The  storming  of  Lone  Tree  hill  for  valor  and  slaughter  will  occupy 
a  place  by  itself  in  military  annals.  Kouropatkin,  under  whose  eye  the 
assault  was  made,  rechristened  it  PoutilofT  hill,  in  honor  of  the  man  who 
led  the  attack  at  the  head  of  the  Second  brigade  of  the  East  Siberian 
rifle  division,  and  who  was  subsequently  decorated  on  the  field  with  the 
St.  George's  cross. 

The  hill  is  a  precipitous,  rocky  height,  and,  although  the  Japanese 
had  occupied  it  only  a  short  time,  they  had  thrown  up  strong  defenses. 
The  river  running  at  its  foot  increased  the  difficulty  of  the  task,  but  it 
was  scaled  and  carried  successfully  against  the  unprecedented  opposi- 
tion of  a  Japanese  division,  14,000  men,  with  many  guns. 

Lifted  in  the  Air  on  Bayonets. 

The  Russian  losses  were  terrible.  The  fighting  on  the  crest  of  the 
hill  was  altogether  with  cold  steel.  The  Russian  officers,  with  swords 
aloft,  leading  the  scaling^  column,  were  literally  lifted  in  the  air  by  the 
Japanese  bayonets,  and  the  Japanese  then  bayoneted  the  first  of  the 
Russian  soldiers  who  piled  in  the  trenches.  All  the  dead  in  the  trenches 
were  bayoneted. 

Nemirovitch  Danchenko,  the  Russian  war  correspondent,  describing 
the  assault,  says : 

"The  whole  Russian  artillery,  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  showered 


438  YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER. 

the  hill  with  projectiles,  the  bombardment  lasting  the  entire  day,  yet 
the  defenders  remained  at  their  posts. 

"The  Sim  was  already  declining  when  Kouropatkin  gave  the  order 
to  storm.  Six  regiments  advanced,  fording  the  river  in  the  face  of  a 
murderous  fire. 

"The  enemy  determined  to  make  us  pay  dearly  for  it.  He  poured 
a  hail  of  gun  and  rifle  fire  on  our  advancing  columns,  but  nothing  could 
stop  them.  They  reached  the  other  side,  clambered  up,  and  at  ii 
o'clock  at  night  the  position  was  in  our  hands.  I  have  just  visited  the 
scene  of  our  triumph.  The  trenches  are  filled  with  dead  Japanese  and 
Russians  clutched  in  a  death  embrace.  The  Japanese  gunners  died  at 
their  guns." 

A  Stubborn  Contest. 

On  October  i8  the  Japanese  left  army  was  fighting  its  way  north 
and  east  toward  Mukden  and  the  Russian  right  was  throwing  all  the 
men  it  could  muster  across  its  path.  Every  foot  of  ground  was  being 
contested,  and,  while  the  main  action  lay  along  the  west  side  of  the 
railway,  a  few  miles  south  of  Mukden,  the  armies  to  the  east  of  the 
railway  were  making  every  possible  diversion.  ^  Positions  were  being 
taken  and  retaken  and  guns  were  changing  hands  almost  hourly. 

Russian  Defeat  Seemed  Certain. 

The  greatest  admiration  was  expressed  for  the  tenacity  displayed 
by  General  Kouropatkin  in  protecting  his  retreat,  but  nowhere  was 
any  idea  entertained  that  the  Russians'  first  decided  success  on  the 
Shakhe  river  could  change  the  broad  character  of  their  defeat,  or  have 
any  effect  beyond  retarding  slightly  the  eventual  Japanese  advance  to 
Mukden,  and  probably  to  Harbin,  since  the  Japanese  appeared  to  be 
fully  prepared  for  a  winter  campaign. 

A  Night  Attack. 

The  Japanese  often  displayed  a  fondness  for  night  attacks,  which 
they  organized  cleverly.  They  would  light  a  series  of  enormous  camp- 
fires  at  false  bivouacs  and  then  stealthily  creep  up  on  the  Russian  sen- 


YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER.  439 

tinels,  who,  peering  into  the  darkness  and  blinded  by  the  glare,  cannot 
see  the  Japanese  approaching,  or  they  would  take  advantage  of  a  rain- 
storm and  try  to  surprise  the  Russians.  One  night  they  adopted  both 
ruses,  but  ran  into  a  hornets'  nest.  The  night  was  inky  black,  rain  was 
falling  and  a  cold  wind  was  blowing. 

Ordered  to  Use  the  Bayonet. 

"A  fine  night  for  the  Japanese,"  every  one  said,  and  the  Russians 
huddled  in  the  trenches  had  strict  orders  given  to  them  that  if  the  ex- 
pected but  uninvited  guests  appeared  not  to  fire  but  to  meet  them  with 
the  bayonet.  It  was  so  dark  that  a  person  could  not  see  his  hand  before 
his  face  except  vaguely.  Through  the  rain,  in  the  direction  of  the  false 
campfires,  all  eyes  were  strained  and  ears  listening  intently. 

The  wind,  which  was  as  cold  as  ice  and  cut  to  the  bones,  was  sud- 
denly freighted  with  ominous  sounds,  an  unmistakable  squash  in  the 
mire  and  squirting  of  water  under  the  tramp  of  hurrying  feet,  accom- 
panied by  the  metallic  rattle  of  arms. 

Japanese  Walk  Into  Trap. 

The  Russians  stooped  lower.  The  officers  passed  along  another 
caution — under  no  circumstances  to  fire  but  to  meet  the  Japanese  with 
the  bayonet.  On  they  came.  The  Russians  could  already  see  the  sil- 
houettes of  the  Japanese  and  watched  the  approach  of  their  victims 
with  grim  satisfaction,  their  only  anxiety  being  lest  some  nervous  sol- 
dier might  fire  and  thus  spoil  the  game.  The  Japanese  came  on,  strain- 
ing their  eyes  in  the  darkness,  evidently  believing  that  the  Russians 
were  not  so  close. 

Awful  Slaughter  of  Invaders. 

When  they  were  right  under  their  feet,  the  Russians  rose  up  as  if 
out  of  the  ground  and,  with  a  hurrah,  wildly  fell  upon  them  with  the 
bayonet.  The  front  ranks  of  the  Japanese  broke,  turned  and  smashed 
into  the  second  line,  throwing  the  whole  force  into  disorder.  Like  a 
rabble,  they  tried  to  escape,  but  the  Russians  gave  them  no  mercy, 
bayoneting  them  as  they  pursued.     For  a  mile  the  work  of  slaughter 


YENTAI  AND  THE  SHAKHE  RIVER. 

proceeded  and  few  of  the  Japanese  lived  to  carry  back  the  talc.    In  th« 
morning  the  ground  was  strewn  with  corpses. 

The  Battle  Wears  Itself  Out. 

On  October  20  the  big  battle  had  practically  worn  itself  out,  leaving 
the  two  armies  facing  each  other,  with  the  Shakhe  river  as  the  dividing 
line.  An  exchange  of  artillery  fire  continued  all  day  on  October  18  and 
all  day  October  19,  the  Russian  center  advancing  slightly  each  day, 
under  a  heavy  shell  fire.  On  the  left  the  Russians  were  in  a  good  posi- 
tion on  a  high  hill  overlooking  the  Shakhe  river,  which  they  held,  despite 
an  almost  continuous  bombardment  and  frequently  infantry  attacks,  and 
Kouropatkin  was  confident  that  he  could  throw  ofif  the  Japanese  to  the 
westward,  thus  leaving  the  way  open  to  Port  Arthur. 

The  World's  Bloodiest  Battles. 

The  Japanese  ambassador  to  England  once  said  that  although  poets, 
artists,  skilled  mechanics,  musicians,  sculptors,  scientists  and  statesmen 
had  fostered  the  peaceful  arts  and  had  zealously  labored  to  advance 
the  material  welfare  of  Japan,  his  country  was  not  recognized  as  civil- 
ized until  the  Yellow  Sea  and  the  soil  of  Manchuria  had  been  reddened 
with  the  blood  of  her  enemies  and  the  lives  of  thousands  of  her  youth 
had  been  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  liberty.  The  following  table  shows 
how  the  "onward  march  of  civilization"  in  other  countries  has  been 
attended  with  the  same  fearful  slaughter  of  human  beings : 

Battles.  Men  Engaged.     Losses. 

Waterloo 196,000  53,ooo 

Sedan 400,000  28,000 

Plevna 225.000  70,000 

Chancellorsville 139,000  30,000 

Chattanooga 1 10,000  1 5,000 

Gettysburg   .-....■ 145,000  55/190 

Wilderness    » 186,000  50,000 

Koniggratz s 5 10,000  53,ooo 

Liaoyang 500,000  40,000 

Shakhe  River 496,000  60,000 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR 

Beginning  of  the  Siege — ^Russian  Attempt  to  Relieve  Port  Arthur  Fails— First  line  of 
Forts  Captured — Takushan  Taken — Dash  of  the  Russian  Fleet — Awful  Bloodshed  at 
Banjusan  and  Panlung — Reckless  Bravery  of  the  Japanese — Japanese  Resort  to  Sap- 
ping and  Mining — Capture  of  203  Meter  Hill — ^A  Flag  of  Tmce — Loss  of  Iiife  During 
the  Siege — A  Letter  from  General  Stoessel. 

ALTHOUGH  the  siege  of  Port  Arthur  began  on  February  8th,  when 
Admiral  Togo  surprised  the  Russian  fleet  and  torpedoed  the  bat- 
tleships and  cruisers,  the  campaign  which  resulted  in  the  fall  of  the  for- 
tress commenced  on  May  5,  when  General  Oku,  with  65,000  men,  landed 
on  the  Liaotung  peninsula  at  Pitsewo,  seventy-five  miles  northeast  of 
Port  Arthur.  On  the  following  day  landing  operations  also  began  at 
Port  Adams,  Admiral  Togo's  fleet  in  the  meantime  distracting  the  at- 
tention of  the  Russians  by  the  continued  bombardment  of  Port  Arthur. 

Attempt  to  Relieve  Port  Arthur  Fails. 

The  advance  toward  Port  Arthur  began  about  May  12th,  and  on 
May  26,  after  a  five  days'  battle,  the  Japanese  captured  the  walled  city 
of  Kinchou  and  took  Nanshan  Hill,  after  one  of  the  most  thrilling 
•charges  of  the  war.  On  May  31  the  Japanese  troops  occupied  Dalny 
and  on  the  same  day  General  Stackelberg,  with  30,000  men,  left  Tatch- 
ekiao  and  attempted  to  relieve  Port  Arthur.  General  Oku  dispatched  a. 
portion  of  his  forces  to  meet  the  Russian  general  and  on  June  14.  at 
Vafangow,  Stackelberg  was  defeated,  with  a  toss  of  1,000  men  and  14 
guns. 

The  forces  besieging  Port  Arthur  continued  to  receive  reinforce- 
ments from  Port  Adams,  Pitsewo  and  Dalny.  and  during  the  last  week 
in  June  the  Japanese  had  gained  several  miles  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
peninsula  and  had  captured  two  forts  on  the  heights  at  Lounvantien, 

about  eight  miles  northeast  of  Port  Arthur.    The  capture  of  Lounvan- 

441 


^142  FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR. 

tien  was  the  signal  for  a  series  of  desperate  battles  for  positions  still 
nearer  the  stronghold.  About  this  time  it  was  learned  that  General 
Nogi,  who  commanded  the  brigade  at  the  capture  of  Port  Arthur  ten 
years  before,  was  again  in  command  of  the  siege  operations. 

On  July  9,  the  Japanese  suspended  their  advance  and  intrenched 
themselves  in  the  positions  they  had  occupied  and  devoted  the  following 
three  v/eeks  to  bringing  up  heavy  guns  and  ammunition.  On  July  26 
Field  Marshal  Oyama,  who  had  been  appointed  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Japanese  forces  in  the  field,  left  Dalny  for  the  front  and  took  active 
command  of  the  siege  operations,  and  the  final  preparations  for  the  as- 
sault on  the  great  fortress  began.  At  this  time  the  Japanese  served  no- 
tice of  their  purpose  to  take  Port  Arthur  by  storm,  if  it  were  not  given 
up,  but  General  Stoessel,  the  commander  of  the  garrison,  refused  to  sur- 
render. 

Whole  Regiments  Annihilated. 

The  capture  of  Green  and  Wolfe  Hills  followed,  after  which  the  Jap- 
anese turned  their  attention  to  Takushan,  845  feet  high  and  only  three 
miles  from  Port  Arthur.  On  Monday  morning,  August  8,  the  Japanese 
attacked  the  main  line  of  the  Russian  fortifications,  their  infantry  making 
reckless  bayonet  charges,  and  the  Russians  replying  in  a  similar  manner. 
Steel  to  steel  the  conflicts  took  place  and  whole  regiments  were  annihi- 
lated. At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  August  9  the  Japanese  concen- 
trated their  reserves  and  made  a  final  attempt,  sweeping  the  Russians 
back.  Some  idea  of  the  awful  carnage  may  be  obtained  from  the  fact 
that  in  one  fortified  position,  out  of  a  force  of  200  men,  only  two  sur- 
vived. In  spite  of  a  brave  sortie  by  the  Russians,  followed  by  fierce 
fighting  at  close  quarters,  in  which  the  Czar's  soldiers  were  assisted  by 
the  Russian  fleet  in  the  harbor,  the  Japanese  held  the  position  they  had 
won.  From  the  day  the  Japanese  guns  were  mounted  on  Takushan,  the 
-doom  of  the  fortress  was  sealed. 

Then  came  the  first  and  only  attempt  of  the  fleet  to  escape.    August 

TO  Admiral  Witthoeft,  with  his  entire  squadron,  made  a  dash  for  the 

^pen  sea,  with  orders  not  to  return.    The  naval  battle  with  Togo's  fieet 


FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR.  443 

followed.  Five  of  the  battleships,  badly  damaged,  were  compelled  to 
a-eturn  to  Port  Arthur.  The  Czarevitch  crept  into  the  German  harbor 
^t  Kiauchau  bay,  a  battered  hulk,  Admiral  Witthoeft  dead,  and  hun- 
dreds of  his  sailors  dead  and  dying.  The  cruiser  Askold  managed  to 
reach  Shanghai,  unfit  for  further  service.  The  Diana  got  as  far  as  the 
French  port  of  Saigon.  The  Novik  escaped  and  sailed  clear  around  the 
islands  of  Japan,  only  to  be  overtaken  and  sunk  on  the  shores  of  the 
island  of  Saghalien,  w^ithin  a  day's  steaming  distance  of  Vladivostok. 
Four  of  the  torpedo  boats  were  sunk,  and  two  reached  Kiauchau  bay. 
The  others  returned  to  Port  Arthur. 

A  Noble  Act  of  Sacrifice. 

The  Japanese  land  operations  began  in  earnest  on  August  19,  when 
'the  siege  guns,  which  had  been  brought  up  and  put  in  place,  opened  the 
first  general  bombardment  of  the  whole  line  of  Russian  forts.  The  bom- 
bardment was  followed  by  an  infantry  attack,  a  whole  division  advancing 
to  attack  the  first  line  of  trenches  on  Rihlung  fort.  They  captured  the 
-trenches  only  to  lose  them  again  with  heavy  loss.  On  August  21  the 
Japanese  batteries  concentrated  their  fire  on  Banjusan  and  Keekwan 
forts,  but  despite  the  artillery  support,  the  Japanese  were  driven  back 
and  the  assault  threatened  to  result  in  failure.  While  General  Nogi 
was  consulting  with  his  generals  concerning  the  operations,  several  com- 
panies of  a  regiment  emerged  from  their  trenches  without  special  orders 
and  charged  up  the  slope  to  the  broken  wall  of  a  trench  around  the  crest 
of  Banjusan  fort.  The  Russians  behind  the  wall  and  in  the  fort  poured 
out  a  hail  of  rifle  bullets' and  the  machine  and  quick-firing  guns  belched 
forth  on  the  intrepid  Japanese.  Twice  the  Japanese  were  forced  back 
till  the  slope  was  covered  with  bodies,  but  a  third  attempt  was  made  and 
a  score  of  heroes  reached  the  broken  wall.  The  terrible  fire  of  the  Rus- 
sians, however,  started  their  retirement. 

Suddenly  a  Japanese  officer,  regardless  of  the  danger,  stood  up,  called 
out  an  order,  planted  his  regimental  flag  on  the  wall,  and  was  imme- 
/diately  riddled  with  Russian  bullets. 

The  effect  on  the  Japanese  of  this  sacrifice  was  instantaneous.    The 


444  FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR. 

retreating  infantrymen  stopped  in  their  tracks,  hesitated,  and  then 
charged  back,  fought  Hke  demons,  jumped  over  the  wall,  charged  the 
Russians  with  bayonets,  and  forced  many  of  them  up  the  glacis,  over  the 
ramparts,  and  into  the  fort.  This  fort  the  Japanese  were  unable  to  hold. 
During  the  morning  of  August  22,  the  Japanese  captured  Panlung 
fort;  and  on  the  night  of  August  23  the  Japanese  center,  with  the  right 
co-operating,  attacked  the  heights  northwest  of  Wantai  and  the  north 
fort  east  of  Keekwan  mountain,  but  the  troops  were  forced  to  abandon 
the  attack  on  account  of  the  heavy  losses.  Then  there  came  an  order  for 
a  general  assault  along  the  whole  front,  and  for  twenty  minutes  the 
whole  Japanese  line  was  engaged.  The  left  division  from  the  trenches 
in  front  of  the  Keekwan  forts  charged  the  fortified  hills.  Part  of  the  ad- 
vance had  gained  the  crests  and  shouted  "Banzai,"  when  their  triumph 
was  cut  short. 

Russian  Searchlights  Reveal  the  Japanese. 

Suddenly  the  two  powerful  searchlights  of  the  east  forts  lighted  up 
the  Japanese  lines,  and  Russian  rifles  and  machine  guns  poured  a  deadly 
hail  into  the  clearly  visible  ranks  of  the  attacking  troops. 

Despite  the  awful  process  of  the  unequal  annihilation,  the  Japanese 
stubbornly  held  the  positions  gained  and  their  machine  guns  quickly  lo- 
cated and  quieted  the  Russian  quickfirers.  Finally  the  Japanese  were 
slowly  forced  down  the  slopes  to  the  trenches  below. 

During  the  night  of  the  24th  the  ranks  of  the  Japanese  were  so  deci- 
mated by  the  furious  shrapnel  fire  of  the  Russians  that  they  were  forced 
to  retire  to  the  valley  below  the  captured  forts,  and  what  might  have 
been  a  successful  general  assault,  with  the  capture  of  the  fortified  ridge 
east  of  Port  Arthur,  was  converted  by  the  Russian  tactics  into  a  repulse, 
redeemed  in  part  by  the  wonderful  fighting  qualities  of  the  Japanese  in- 
fantry and  their  refusal  to  accept  what  seemed  to  be  the  inevitable. 

The  Japanese  casualties  were  14,000.  The  center  division  alone  lost 
6,000  and  a  single  regiment  lost  2,500.  Only  six  officers  and  200  men 
of  this  regiment  were  left  after  the  fi-ght. 

The  Japanese  never  repeated  tlie  attempt  to  capture  the  defenses  of 


FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR.  445 

Port  Arthur  by  direct  assault,  but  settled  down  to  sapping  and  making 
parallels.  In  one  instance  they  succeeded  in  tunnelling  a  fort  unknown 
to  the  Russians,  and  exploding  two  tons  of  dynamite,  blowing  the  for- 
tification into  fragments.  Many  sanguinary  hand-to-hand  conflicts  took 
place  in  these  subterranean  galleries,  for  frequently  the  besieged  in  turn 
surprised  the  besiegers  by  countermining.  In  the  meantime  the  Rus- 
sians made  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  recapture  Banjusan  fort,  and 
failing  in  these  attempts  they  resorted  to  sorties  to  delay  the  work  and 
to  harass  the  besiegers.  Finally  the  sappers  and  miners  had  made  such 
progress  that  it  was  announced  from  headquarters  that  the  siege  opera- 
tions would  be  finished  with  a  general  assault  September  19,  one  of  the 
main  objects  being  the  capture  of  203  Meter  Hill  and  other  forts  in  its 
vicinity.  The  first  point  attacked  was  Nahaokayama,  a  strongly  forti- 
fied ridge  north  of  203  Meter  Hill.  Regiment  after  regiment  advanced 
to  the  assault,  and  in  spite  of  overwhelming  losses  and  repeated  repulses 
the  fort  on  th6  crest  was  carried.  The  last  rush  of  the  Japanese  was  a 
splendid  spectacle,  ending  with  a  bayonet  encounter  with  the  Russians. 
Swords,  hand  grenades,  even  stones  were  used  by  both  sides,  and  the 
utmost  ferocity  was  displayed. 

The  Desperate  Struggle  Continues. 

This  success  gave  the  Japanese  possession  of  Fort  Kouropatkin,  four 
forts  south  of  Suishiying  mr»untain,  and  two  forts  southeast  of  174  Meter 
Hill.  The  Russian  attacks  on  the  Japanese  miners  and  the  Japanese 
shelling  of  t-he  forts,  city,  and  fleet  continued  throughout  the  early  part 
of  October,  the  Russians  varying  the  routine  October  10  with  a  night 
attack,  in  which  they  used  dynamite  against  the  west  fort  on  Panlung 
mountain.     They  were  repulsed. 

On  October  16,  the  Japanese  captured  a  fort  in  the  center  of  Rihiung 
mountain  after  a  desperate  struggle.  From  October  18  they  continued 
to  drive  their  trenches  forward,  the  Russians  stnbbornly  resisting,  and 
although  the  closing  days  of  the  month  brought  notable  successes  to  the 
besiegers,  they  also  met  with  serious  reverses.  On  October  28,  while 
they  gained  the  counterscarps  of  Rihiung  and  Snng?hn  kjrts  and  cap- 


446  FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR. 

tured  "P"  fort,  they  lost  2,000  men  and  were  forced  to  abandon  the 
position.  Then  came  November  with  its  furious  battles,  the  Japanese 
gaining  ground  almost  inch  by  inch.  On  December  6  came  the  capture 
of  203  Meter  Hill,  which  overlooked  every  foot  of  Port  Arthur  and  the 
harbor.  From  its  crest  Japanese  officers  were  enabled  to  direct  the  fire 
of  the  heavy  guns  with  such  unerring  aim  that  the  Russian  ships  at 
anchor  in  the  bay  were  destroyed  one  by  one.  One  battleship,  how- 
ever, remained,  the  Sevastopol,  which,  driven  from  the  harbor,  took  up 
its  position  in  the  roadstead,  only  to  be  destroyed  by  Admiral  Togo's 
torpedo  boats. 

The  destruction  of  the  Russian  fleet  was  followed  by  the  loss  of  the 
great  forts  north  of  the  city.  First  Keekwan  was  captured,  then,  orp 
December  28,  Rihlung  fell,  and  on  the  31st  the  Japanese  took  the  for- 
midable stronghold  on  Sungshu  mountain.  On  the  first  day  of  January,, 
when  the  forts  on  Panlung  and  Wantai  mountains  were  captured,  be- 
sieger and  besieged  knew  that  the  end  was  at  hand. 

General  Stoessel  Surrenders. 

The  termination  of  the  siege  came  with  dramatic  suddenness.  Even 
the  Japanese,  who  knew  that  the  fortress  was  doomed  to  fall  within  a 
short  time,  were  surprised.  At  five  o'clock,  on  the  afternoon  of  January 
I,  a  Russian  officer,  bearing  a  flag  of  truce,  entered  the  Japanese  lines 
with  a  letter  from  General  Stoessel,  addressed  to  General  Nogi. 

The  terms  governing  Port  Arthur's  surrender,  as  later  arranged,: 
were  in  substance  as  follows — the  rank  and  file  of  the  prisoners  to  be 
sent  to  Japan  until  the  close  of  the  war;  the  officers  to  return  to  Russia 
on  parole.  On  January  4,  General  Nogi  and  the  victorious  Japanese 
army  made  a  formal  entry  into  the  captured  city. 

During  the  siege  265  per  cent  of  the  garrison  were  put  out  of  action. 
This  remarkable  fact  was  due  to  wounded  men  returning  to  the  front. 
Cases  have  been  recorded  where  men  have  gone  to  hospitals  four  times 
— some  seven  times — returning  convalescent  to  the  forts. 

The  number  of  officers  killed  was  proportionately  greater  than  \m 
any  battle  known  in  history.     This  was  due  to  the  frequent  lethargic 


FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR.  44;- 

condition  of  the  men,  who,  without  food  and  without  sleep,  moved  only 
when  ordered  by  their  officers.  The  Russians  estimate  that  the  taking: 
of  the  fortress  cost  Japan  $100,000,000. 

Number  Killed  and  Wounded  During  the  Siege. 
The  following  table  shows  the  losses  on  both  sides  during  the  siege 
of  Port  Arthur: 

Date.  Japanese.        Russian. 

June  24-25 — Capture  of  Lounvantien    2.800  80a 

July  26-28 — Capture  of  Wolf  Mountain  3,700  1,300 

July  30 — Capture  of  outer  trenches : 1,200  '  400- 

Aug.  8 — Capture  of  Takushan   •. 650  420* 

Aug.  9 — Capture  of   Shahkushan    1,400  700 

Aug.   14 — Repulse  at   174  Meter  Hill poo  400- 

Aug.  19-24 — First  attempt  to  take  eastern  and  northern  forts  by  direct 

assault  14,000  3.50a 

Sept.  8 — Repulses  of  Russian  sorties  for  ten  days 2,800  1,200 

Sept.  20 — Capture  of  Fort  Kouropatkin,  four  forts  south  of  Suishiying, 

and  two  forts  southeast  of  174  Meter  Hill 2,800                 

Sept.  20 — Jap  repulse  at  203  Meter  Hill 1,600  185 

Sept.  25 — Russians  repulsed  in  effort  to  capture  trenches  on   Rihlung 

Mountain 400  6oa 

Sept.  27 — Russians  again  repulsed  on  Rihlung 200  40a 

Oct.  2 — Russians  repulsed  in  general  sortie  300  75a 

Oct.  4 — Russians  surprised  on  Yenchiang  Hill 80  4a 

Oct.  10 — Russians  repulsed  on  Panlung  Mountain 325  400 

Oct.  16 — Fighting  on  Rihlung  and  Sungshu  Mountain 1,300  600 

Oct.    30 — Capture    of    counterscarps,    of    Sungshu    and    Rihlung    forts; 

capture  of  "P"  fort,  lost  and  recaptured 2,000  700 

Nov.  5-6 — Battle  on  Etse  Mountain  1,200  60a 

Nov.  13 — Russian  sortie  repulsed   200  30a 

Nov.  22 — Battle  on  Etse  Mountain  250  325 

Nov.  26 — Jap  assault  on  Rihlung,  Keekwan  and  Sungshu  forts 800  400* 

Nov.  30 — Capture  of  203  Meter  Hill   6,800  5,00a 

Dec.   18 — Russian  forlorn  hope  sortie  repulsed 800  3,000- 

Dec.  19 — Capture  of  Fort  Keekwan  350  30a 

Dec.  26 — Capture  of  Fort  Rihlung  300  185 

Dec.  31 — Capture  of  Fort  Sungshu   125  165. 

Jan.  I — Capture  of  Forts  Panlung  and  Wantai 200  225 

Total 47,480  22,745. 

General  Stoessel  Describes  the  Horrors  of  the  Siege. 

Written  December  2S. 

The  position  of  the  fortress  is  beconii\:g  very  painful.  Our  principal  enemies  are" 
scurvy,  which  is  mowing  the  men,  and  eleven-inch  shells,  which  know  no  obstacle  antf 
against  which  there  is  no  protection.  There  only  remain  a  few  who  have  not  been  attacked 
by  scurvy.  We  have  taken  all  the  possible  measures,  but  the  disease  is  spreading.  The 
passive  endurance,^  of  the  enemy's  bombardment,  the  eleven-inch  shells,  the  impossibility  of 
replying  for  want  of  ammunition,  the  outbreak  of  scurvy,  and  the  loss  of  a  mass  of  officers- 
— all  these  causes  diminish  daily  the  capabilities  of  the  defense.  The  tale  of  the  losses  of 
higher  officers  is  an  indication  of  the  enormous  losses  we  have  sustained. 

Of  ten  generals,  two,  Kondratenko  and  Tserpitsky,  have  been  killed,  Raznatovsky  is* 


448  FALL  OF  PORT  ARTHUR. 

dead,  two  are  wounded,  myself  and  Gennadeire,  while  Gorbatowsky  is  suffering  from  con- 
tusions. Of  nine  regimental  commanders  apd  colonels,  Prince  Matchabeli  Naoumenko  has 
been  killed,  Dourire  and  Glagolew  have  succumbed  to  wounds,  and  four  others  have  been 
wounded.    One  lieutenant  colonel  has  been  killed  and  two  are  wounded. 

Among  the  field  artillery  Col.  Irman  was  wounded,  Col.  Peteroff  was  killed,  and  six 
officers  were  wounded.  Among  the  other  high  officers  there  was  an  enormous  percentage 
of  killed  or  several  times  wounded.  Many  companies  are  commanded  by  ensigns  and  the 
companies  only  average  sixty  men  strong.  The  Japanese  since  Dec.  i8  have  refrained  from 
assaulting.  Yesterday  they  exploded  a  mine  under  the  fortifications  of  fort  No.  5,  and 
about  a  score  of  hardy  Japanese  mounted  the  rampart,  but  were  exterminated  by  bayonets 
and  hand  grenades.  In  revenge  the  Japanese  bombarded  all  night  long  and  all  day  long 
with  eleven-inch  shells,  especially  the  hospitals  and  ambulances,  although  knowing  full  w«ll 
that  there  was  no  possibility  of  our  wounded  heroes  joining  the  ranks  of  the  defenders. 
There  are   14,000  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals  and  the   number   increases  by  about 

700  daily. 

Written  December  29. 

At  10  o'clock  yesterday  morning  the  Japanese  blew  up  part  of  the  parapet  of  fort  No. 
30.  They  afterward  opened  a  severe  bombardment  along  the  whole  front,  but  especially 
on  fort  No.  3.  At  about  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they  dashed  to  the  attack  of  the  parapet 
from  the  moat  and  glacis,  where  they  had  been  held  in  readiness.  Two  attacks  were 
repulsed,  but  the  Japanese  occupied  the  funnel  shaped  opening  formed  by  the  explosion, 
and,  reinforced  by  their  reserves,  began  to  run  across  the  moat  in  groups  of  about  five. 
They  occupied  the  parapet  and  at  dusk  two  battalions  had  entered  the  interior  of  the  fort. 

Our  troops  fought  from  the  intrenchments,  which  were  badly  damaged.  Part  of  our 
troops  hid  themselves  in  the  casemates,  but  the  Japanese  placed  machine  guns  in  front  of 
the  exit  from  the  casemates,  thus  depriving  our  men  hidden  there  of  all  possibihty  of 
making  an  attack. 

Three  counter  attacks  from  the  outside  by  our  reserves  met  with  no  success.  The  fort 
consequently  remained  in  possession  of  the  Japanese.  Our  losses  were  considerable,  espe- 
cially in  officers. 

The  survivors  of  the  garrison  succeeded  in  getting  out  of  the  fort  by  the  windows.  By 
the  occupation  of  this  fort  the  Japanese  became  masters  of  the  whole  north  front  and  the 
fortress  can  hold  out  only  a  few  days  more.  We  have  almost  no  ammunition.  I  will  take 
measures  to  prevent  carnage  in  the  streets.  Scurvy  is  sensibly  weakening  the  garrison,  I 
have  now  under  arms  only  10,000  men,  all  sick.  Gens.  Fock  and  Nikitina  have  been  veritable 
heroes  and  admirable  collaborators.  General  Stoessel. 

On  the  first  day  of  January^  I905>  with  Port  Arthur  fallen,  Kouro- 
patkin  defeated  in  every  battle  and  held  at  bay  beyond  the  Shakhe 
River,  Russia's  eastern  fleet  destroyed  and  Admiral  Togo,  the  Nelson  of 
Japan,  ready  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  Baltic  squadron  (whose  only 
accomplishment  had  been  its  attack  upon  an  English  trawling  fleet,  in 
which  two  innocent  fishermen  were  killed,  an  act  which  nearly  precipi- 
tated war  with  Great  Britain),  the  soldiers  of  the  Mikado  could  cry, 
with  hearts  suffused  with  joy,  "Banzai!  Banzai?"  for  victory  had  indeed 
**perclied  upon  the  standards"  of  the  little  island  empire. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
THE   BATTLE   OF   MUKDEN 

Bennenkampf  3  Defeat — The  Advance  of  Kuroki  and  Oku — Battling  Behind  Piles  of 
Corpses — The  Japanese  Fight  like  Demons — A  Bloody  Struggle  in  a  Snowstorm — ^Nogi 
and  His  Port  Arthur  Veterans — The  Little  Islanders  Throw  their  Lives  Away — Reck- 
lessly Mad  Rushes — Retreating  Russians  Kiss  the  Bloodstained  Earth — ^Kouropatkin's 
Army  Surrounded — The  Occupation  of  Mukden — Headlong  Retreat  of  the  Russians  to 
Tiding — The  Spoils  of  War — Capture  of  Tieling — ^The  Massacre  at  St.  Petersburg- 
Assassination  of  Grand  Duke  Sergius. 

A  MILLION  MEN  in  the  throes  of  mortal  combat  for  eighteen  days 
and  nights — a  battlefield  extending  along  a  front  of  eighty  miles 
through  trackless  mountains,  across  ice-bound  rivers,  and  over  mighty 
snow-covered  plains — then  the  shattered  remnant  of  a  mighty  army  in 
panic  stricken  retreat.  This  in  a  few  words  is  the  story  of  Mukden,  one  of 
the  greatest  conflicts  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

A  Death-Dealing  Storm  of  Lead. 

The  culminating  struggle — last  scene  of  all  that  ended  this  grewsome 
tragedy — was  one  of  terrific  grandeur.  It  has  been  compeared  to  a  vast 
thunderstorm  of  leaid,  bullets,  and  shrapnel,  pelting  mercilessly  a  strip  of 
land  twenty  miles  long,  stven  miles  broad,  mowing  down  victims  by  the 
thousands,  the  explosions  of  shimose  and  the  scythelike  work  of  six-inch 
shells  razing  wliole  villages.  Through  this  hell  of  fire,  Russian  and  Japan- 
ese charged  and  countercharged  by  regiments.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  divisions  had  been  hammered  by  batteries  unceasingly  for  a 
fortnight,  they  fought  with  wonderful  determination  and  bravery.  Regi- 
ments were  reduced  to  companies,  companies  to  squads.  But  these  scat- 
tered fragments  in  some  miraculous  way  succeeded  in  uniting  their  forces 
and  re-entering  the  fight.  The  soil  of  the  valley  was  thickly  sowti  with 
pieces  of  shells  and  bits  of  shrapnel  and  covered  with  the  bodies  of  the 
slain.  Often  men  dropped  dead,  suffocated  with  the  fumes  of  melinite, 
lyddite  and  shimose,  and  the  stifling  gases  of  smokeless  powder.  Then  the 
Russian  leader  began  burning  his  stores  and  the.  retreat  became  a  rout. 


450  THE  BATTLE  Ov 

How  the  Battle  of  Mukden  Began. 

The  battle  of  Mukden  began  on  February  19th  when  the  Japanese  cap- 
tured Haba  Pass,  fifty-two  miles  south  of  Mukden,  the  advance  post  of 
General  Rennekampf,  who  had  been  ordered  to  assume  the  aggressive 
against  the  Japanese  forces.  Vanze  Pass  was  taken  the  following  day  and 
the  Russian  advance  hurled  back  on  Tsinkhectchen,  Rennenkampf's  base, 
forty-five  miles  southeast  of  Mukden.  The  Russian  general  made  several 
counter  attacks  but  the  Japanese,  coming  on  in  constantly  increasing  num- 
bers, succeeded,  on  February  22,  in  flanking  the  Russian  position  at  Tsink- 
hetchen,  and  on  February  24  Rennenkampf  began  a  disastrous  retreat  to  the 
Hun  River,  twenty-six  miles  to  the  northward. 

Russian  Heroism  of  No  Avail. 

For  two  days  Rennenkampf  endeavored  to  hold  his  groutid  between 
Tsinkhetchen  and  Da  Pass,  eight  miles  to  the  northward,  but  was  com- 
pelled to  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  thirteen  miles  in  a  blinding  snowstorm,  man- 
aging to  save  his  guns  but  losing  most  of  his  supplies.  He  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  north  bank  of  tlie  Hun  with  the  shattered  remnants 
of  his  army  and  fell  back  to  the  railroad. 

Up  to  March  i  the  fighting  had  been  along  the  extreme  eastern  lines, 
the  Japanese  force  engaged  being  the  Fifth  Army  under  Lieutenant  Gen- 
eral Kawimura,  which  had  advanced  from  Saimatze  to  a  position  east  of 
Kuroki's  forces.  March  i,  Kuroki  began  his  advance,  the  battle  thus  extend- 
ing westward,  crossed  the  Shakhe  river  and  seized  Kaotu  Pass,  thirty-two 
miles  southeast  of  Mukden.  On  the  same  day  Oku  began  his  attack  on  the 
Russian  right  wing,  twenty-six  miles  southvs^est  of  Mukden,  the  Japanese 
using  the  Port  Arthur  eleven-inch  howitzers,  the  largest  ever  used  in  field 
fighting.  This  bombardment  was  probably  the  heaviest  ever  known.  Hun- 
dreds of  guns  of  all  sizes  rained  shells  on  the  Russian  positions,  destro^-^ed 
the  defenses  and  struck  consternation  to  the  hearts  of  the  Russian  troops, 
within  the  zone  of  fire.     The  Japanese  infantry  then  advanced  to  the  attack. 

The  Demoniac  Bravery  of  the  Japanese. 

The  Mikado's  troops  fought  like  demons  making  attack  after  attack, 
especially  on  the  center  and  westward  utterly  reckless  of  sacrifices,  fearlessly 
advancing  against  infantry  fire  and  machine  gims  which  literally  mowed  down 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MUKDEN.  451 

the  advancing  columns,  making  human  hfe  so  cheap  that  the  survivors 
intrenched  themselves  behind  great  piles  of  corpses  and  continued  the  battle 
with  unabated  vigor. 

During  the  night  of  March  i  the  Japanese  took  many  important  Russian 
defenses  that  gave  Oku's  men  a  foothold  for  their  subsequent  attacks.  The 
capture  Of  the  village  of  Chintan  enabled  the  Japanese  to  turn  the  Russian 
right  flank,  thereby  securing  a  pivot  to  swing  northward  to  the  west  of  the 
Hun  river. 

Reckless  Night  Attacks  and  Bayonet  Charges. 

These  operations  were  conducted  with  great  difficulty.  The  Russiaa 
works  were  strongly  defended  by  entanglements  and  machine  guns,  and 
the  Russians  used  search  lights  and  star  shells,  but  in  spite  of  these  the 
Japanese,  under  cover  of  a  heavy  bombardment,  rushed  the  works  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  killing  many  of  the  Russians  and  imprisoning  others 
in  the  trenches. 

On  the  morning  of  March  2  the  Japanese  captured  the  enemy's  position 
at  Huknde,  after  a  most  sensational  charge.  Small  detachments  of  Japan- 
ese troops  sent  to  reconnoiter  the  Russian  positions  succeeded  by  marvel- 
ous ingenuity  and  reckless  bravery,  in  getting  close  to  the  Russian  entrench- 
ments under  the  protection  of  a  snowstorm,  when  they  suddenly  charged! 
and  drove  the  vastly  superior  force  from  the  trenches. 

Nogi  and  Oku  to  the  Fore. 

In  the  meantime  Oku's  troops  pressed  steadily  forward,  fighting  every 
foot  of  the  way.     The  Russians  stubbornly  contested  the  reckless  advance  of 
the  little  Islanders  for  a  time  but  finally  gave  way  under  repeated  defeats- 
and  heavy  losses,  throwing  away  their  arms  and  clothing  and  even  aban- 
doning their  stores. 

While  Oku  was  thus  alternately  hammering  and  charging  the  Russian 
right  wing,  he_  formed  a  screen  from  behind  which  General  Nogi,  the  hero 
of  the  Port  Arthur  siege,  led  his  veteran  divisions  northward  by  forced 
marohes  twenty-six  miles.  Kouropatkin  knew  nothing  of  the  sensational 
flanking  march  until,  without  warning,  the  roar  of  Nogi's  guns,  five  miles 
west  of  Mukden,  told  him  that  he  had  been  outgeneraled,  and  that  his  whole 
position  had  been  turned. 


452  THE  BATTLE  OF  MUKDEN. 

The  Hero  of  Port  Arthur  Takes  a  Daring  Chance. 

Nogi  took  as  daring  a  chance  as  did  Kuroki  at  the  battle  of  Liaoyang. 
West  of  Mukden  there  was  only  a  frozen  plain,  on  which  not  even  a  tempo- 
rary fortification  could  be  raised,  but  the  Port  Arthur  veterans  advanced  to 
the  attack,  shouting  in  Russian: 

"Out  of  the  way  for  us;  we  are  from  Port  Arthur." 

They  offered  their  lives  with  the  same  fanatical  bravery  and  were  as 
unshaken  by  heavy  losses  as  at  the  siege  of  Port  Arthur 

While  Nogi  was  marching  around  to  the  west  of  Mukden  and  Kuroki 
was  driving  in  the  Russian  army  on  the  east,  Nodzu  was  holding  the  Rus- 
sian center  on  the  south,  preventing  it  from  going  to  the  assistance  of  either 
the  right  or  left  wings. 

Human  Lives  of  No  Value. 

On  March  3,  the  northward  advance  of  the  Japanese  had  approached  so 
near  Mukden  that  the  bursting  of  the  shrapnel  could  be  seen  from  the  city, 
which  was  consequently  thrown  into  dire  confusion.  The  carnage  on  this 
day  at  the  center  and  on  both  flanks  was  frightful.  The  Japanese  simply 
threw  away  their  Hves,  hurling  themselves  against  the  seemingly  impregiiable 
fortifications  of  the  Russians.  These  awful  sacrifices  held  the  center  in 
check  and  covered  General  Nogi's  attack  on  the  west,  which  resulted  in  the 
complete  turning  of  the  Russian  right  and  made  sure  the  overwhelming 
defeat  of  the  Russian  army. 

The  Russians  Retire  in  Confusion; 

In  the  meantiTTie  the  left  Japanese  srmy  after  a  series  of  recklessly  mad 
charges,  had  succeeded  in  fi^itiiig  their  way  t-r^  n  point  <m  the  main  road 
five  miles  north  of  Mukden,  The  Russians  doggedly  endeavored  to  check 
the  onward  rush  of  the  Japanese  in  vain,  finally  retreating  in  disorder  before 
their  foes.  It  is  believed  that  some  of  the  Russian  twldiers  were  disheart- 
ened by  the  fall  of  Port  Arthur,  and  were  almost  in  open  revolt  A  num- 
bei"  of  strong  positions  were  given  up  without  a  show  of  resistance  and  tie 
batiiefieid  showed  evidence  of  hasty  retreat,  being  covered  with  ciothin!.j, 
heavy  felt  Ixxjts,  and  tliousands  of  whips  thrown  away  probably  because 
they  impeded  the  Russians'  iiasty  flight.  Many  rifles  and  thousands  of  clips 
of  rifle  cartridges  were  also  thrown  away,  the  Russians  retiring  east  aiid 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MUKDEN.  453 

north  in  confusion.     It  was  evident  that  all  their  plans  for  retreat  were  dis- 
concerted by  the  rapid  rushes  of  the  Japanese. 

Preferred  Death  to  Retreat 

To  others,  so  cruelly,  so  bitterly  disappointing  was  the  order  to  abandon 
the  positions  on  which  so  many  of  their  comrades  had  fallen  that  many  of 
the  soldiers,  sobbing,  knelt  and  kissed  the  blood-stained  earth  and  then 
gloomily  and  unwillingly  carried  out  the  order  to  retire.  On  every  hand 
privates  were  asking  their  leaders  why  and  getting  no  explanation. 

in  the  depth  of  the  night  lines  of  troops  moved  out  of  the  intrench- 
ments,  leaving  the  bodies  of  their  fellows,  buried  and  unburied,  behind,  and 
then  burned  the  stores  and  provisions  which  were  abandoned  by  the  unex- 
pected retreat,  enormous  fires  illuminating  the  road  afar.  The  retreat  was 
executed  in  perfect  order,  and  the  troopers,  leaving  Madyadany  to  the  east- 
ward, fell  back  to  the  appointed  positions  on  the  Hun  River.  Officers  and 
men  alike  felt  the  blow  keenly.  "Why,  oh  why,"  sobbed  one,  "did  not  they 
Jet  us  die  in  our  positions?" 

"War  is  Hell!" 

The  territory  In  front  of  the  Russians'  positions  was  a  plain  of  death. 
Bodies  strewed  the  debatable  ground,  from  which  neither  side  could  remove 
its  dead.  No  quarter  had  been  asked  for  or  given  by  either  side;  the  enmity 
ceased  only  in  death.  The  wounded,  with  breasts  torn  open  by  shrapnel  or 
bayonet,  roused  their  flagging  energies  for  one  more  shot.  Here,  a  Japan- 
ese sitting  upon  a  stone,  a  moment's  pause  for  rest,  and  then  etemit>' — there, 
a  Russian,  his  face  dogged  even  in  death,  horribly  mutilated  by  a  shimose 
shell — and  just  beyond,  two  foes  with  bayonets  sheathed  in  each  other's 
breasts.     Everywhere,  corpses — corpjses — corpses. 

The  road  northward  was  crowded  so  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  by  a 
continuous  file  of  two-wheeled  Chinese  carts  full  of  Russian  wounded,  the 
best  testimony  of  the  valor  with  which  the  army  of  the  East  fitting  con- 
tinuously for  a  fortnight,  had  defended  every'inch  of  the  ground  over  which 
it  was  compelled  by  superior  numbers  to  retire? 

The  Pitiful  Condition  of  the  Wounded. 

Each  cart  bore  from  three  to  five  wounded  men  whose  exhaustion  was 
almost  too  utter  for  them  to  feel  pain.  Scarcely  a  groan  or  cry  was  heard 
— not  even  the  moans  of  the  dying:  only  the  iVimal  creak  of  the  rv^'Je  wheels 


454  THE  BATTLE  OF  MUKDEN. 

and  the  thud  of  the  ponies'  hoofs.  Most  of  tlie  wounded  had  their  heads 
covered  with  Chinese  blankets  or  dirty  coats  stiff  with  coagulated  blood 
hiding  wan  and  dirty  faces  distorted  with  pain,  sunken  eyes  and  expanded 
nostrils.  Here  and  there  was  seen  a  cart  with  two  wounded  men,  between  whom 
was  a  corpse  which  every  jolt  pounded  against  the  helpless  living  comrades  of 
the  man  on  whose  face  death  had  sealed  the  distortion  of  unbearable  agony. 

The  Retreat  to  Tieling. 

On  March  5,  the  Japanese  made  a  series  of  desperate  attacks  on  the  Rus- 
sian divisions  west  and  south  of  Mukden.  All  of  these  attacks  were  repulsed 
with  enormous  losses  of  life  on  both  sides.  On  the  morning  of  the  7th  the 
Japanese  made  a  general  assault  convinced  that  victory  was  at  hand.  The 
night  before  they  had  seen  the  sky  illuminated  with  the  fires  of  burning" 
stores,  and  knew  that  Kouropatkin  had  commenced  his  retreat  to  the  north. 
Then  came  the  flight  of  the  Russian  left  wing,  against  which  Kuroki  had 
been  hurling  his  soldiers.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  des- 
perate attacks  against  the  retreating  Russians,  intended  to  break  up 
the  army  of  Kouropatkin  and  compel  the  surrender  of  the  detached 
divisions.  The  first  result  was  the  destruction  of  the  Russian  center  and  the 
occupation  of  Mukden  by  Oyama,  followed  by  the  headlong  retreat  of  the 
Russians  to  Tieling.  • 

Part  of  the  Army  Saved  from  Destruction. 

The  bravery  of  Generals  Kaulbars  and  Bilderling  by  their  masterly  rear- 
guard actions  saved  a  part  of  the  Russian  army  from  immediate  annihilation 
and  enabled  it  to  reach  Tieling  in  safety.  Kaulbars  with  a  comparatively 
small  force  held  a  solid  front  against  80,000  Japanese  troops,  commanded 
by  General  Nogi,  and  although  he  left  thousands  of  his  dead  behind  him  in 
his  slow  retiring  movement,  he  prevented  Nogi  from  outflanking  Kouro- 
patkin or  cutting  through  to  the  center  of  his  retreat.  Bilderling  was  forced 
to  stand  against  the  formidable  armies  of  Oku  and  Nodzu  at  the  center. 
And  although  his  lines  were  broken  many  times  he  hurled  his  divisions  into 
•the  gaps  and  held  the  enemy  in  check. 

Fearful  Losses  in  Killed,  Captured  and  Wounded. 

The  Russian  losses  at  the  battle  of  Mukden  were  approximately  200,000 
"killed,  wounded  and  prisoners.  .  The  total  casualties  on  the  Japanese  side 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MUKDEN.  455 

^vere  about  50,000.  The  spoils  of  war  included  100,000  rifles,  300,000  shells, 
25,000,000  rounds  of  ammunition,  10,000  bushels  of  wheat,  300,000  bushels 
of  fodder,  100  large  guns,  1,000,000  loaves  of  bread,  besides  clothing  and 
accoutrements,  tents,  railway  outfit,  telegraph  wire  and  poles,  beds,  stoves, 
and  other  property. 

Kouropatkin  Burns  His  Stores. 

On  the  night  of  March  9  the  retreat  of  the  Russian  army  commenced, 
and  hundreds  of  ammunition  and  hospital  trains  were  despatched  to  Tiding. 
At  this  time  an  unceasing  battle  was  in  progress,  north  of  Mukden,  there- 
fore the  trains  traveled  unlighted  and  without  whistling.  Meanwhile,  the 
city  of  Mukden  presented  a  remarkable  scene.  All  about  rose  the  flames  of 
burning  stores.  Occasionally  boxes  of  cartridges  exploded,  and  rockets  rose 
and  burst  into  clusters  of  stars.  The  fitful  light  of  the  fires  revealed  the 
dead  lying  in  heaps,  hundreds  of  wounded  left  behind  to  die  or  be  captured 
and  the  nameless  horrors  of  a  besieged  city.  And  beyond  the  glare  was  a 
surging,  disorganized  mass  of  soldiers  fleeing  to  their  last  refuge  at  Tiding, 
with  the  victory-flushed  foe  in  hot  pursuit. 

On  March  16  came  the  report  that  the  forces  of  Japan,  relentlessly  pur- 
suing the  retreating  enemy,  had  surrounded  and  captured  Tiding,  thus  put- 
ting the  finishing  touches  to  a  victory  as  welcome  to  Japan  as  it  must  have 
been  humiliating  to  Russia.  From  the  moment  that  the  news  of  the  dis- 
astrous defeat  at  Mukden  reached  St.  Petersburg  the  downfall  of  General 
Kouropatkin  was  certain.  The  Czar  at  once  issued  an  order  dismissing  and 
recalling  the  Russian  commander.  Kouropatkin's  discomfiture  was  further 
Increased  by  the  appointment  of  General  Linevitch,  his  personal  enemy,  to 
the  command  of  the  army  of  Manchuria. 

A  Reign  of  Terror  in  Russia. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  land  of  the  Czar,  the  agitation  for  constitutional 
reform  had  assumed  formidable  proportions.  The  temper  of  the  people  rose 
to  fever  heat.  An  attempt  was  made  on  the  life  of  the  Emperor  while  he 
was  attending  the  religious  ceremony  of  blessing  the  waters  of  the  Neva. 
The  artillery,  stationed  opposite  the  pavilion  in  which  stood  the  Czar  and 
his  suite,  was  firing  a  salute,  when  a  charge  of  shot  came  crashing  through 
the  crowd.     Someone  had  placed  a  loaded  cartridge  in  one  of  the  guns. 


456  THE  BATTLE  OE  MUKDEN. 

The  Czar  escaped  death  by  a  miracle.  Then  occurred  a  terrible  catastro- 
phe that  marked  a  new  chapter  in  Russian  history.  On  January  22,  the 
workmen  of  St.  Petersburg  marched  in  a  body  to  the  Winter  Palace  with 
the  intention  of  presenting  a  petition  to  the  Czar,  setting  forth  their  wrongs 
and  asking  for  redress.  Upon  arriving  at  the  palace  they  found  troops 
drawn  up  to  receive  them,  but  anticipating  no  danger,  the  leader  of  the  pro- 
cession, Father  Gopon,  said  in  a  loud  voice:  "We  are  going  to  present  a 
petition  to  the  Emperor."  The  commander  of  the  troops  replied:  "The 
road  is  barred."  Unheeding  the  almost  certain  death  in  the  leveled  rifles, 
the  brave  priest  gave  the  order  to  march  on.  Instantly  there  came  the  order 
to  fire  and  a  hail  of  lead  poured  into  the  people's  ranks.  Hundreds  were 
killed  and  wounded.'  Other  massacres  followed  in  different  parts  of  the  city, 
but  late  in  the  afternoon  came  the  crowning  horror,  when  a  regiment  of 
bloodthirsty  Cossacks  charged  upon  a  crowd  of  people  gathered  in  front  of 
the  palace  and  mercilessly  cut  down  scores  of  men,  women,  and  children. 

The  massacre  at  St.  Petersburg  was  followed  by  riots  and  strikes  in 
other  Russian  cities.  Petitions  were  presented  to  the  Czar;  he  received  dele- 
gations of  workingmen,  but  the  "little  father,"  promising  much  and  doing 
niothing,  failed  to  grasp  the  opportunity  to  become  the  benefactor  of  his 
people.  Then  came  the  horrible  assassination  of  Grand  Duke  Sergius,  the 
Czar's  evil  genius,  and  the  most  hated  man  in  Russia.  Sergius  was  blown 
to  pieces  by  a  bomb,  hurled  beneath  the  wheels  of  his  carriage  as  he  was 
driving  through  Moscow.  The  act  was  committed  by  an  agent  of  the  revo- 
lutionary party  which  had,  through  a  public  decree  imposed  a  sentence  of 
death  upon  the  Czar  and  all  his  advisers  who  were  inimical  to  the  cause  of 
the  people.  No  wonder  that  the  Emperor  exclaimed  at  the  time:  "When 
win  all  this  end?" 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA 

The  Second  Pacific  Squadron  a  Formidable  Armada — The  Dash  for  Vladivostok — Bojest- 
v«nsk3r'»  Buse — Togo's  Battle  Signal — A  Demoralized  Fleet — ^A  Super bl;  Terrible 
Scene — Caught  in  a  Trap — The  "Hornets"  of  the  Sea  Finish  the  Work  of  Destruc- 
tion— Every  Russian  Boat  a  Slaughter  Pen — Fire  Adds  to  the  Horror — The  Borodino's 
Gallant  Fight — Blown  to  Fragments  and  Sunk — Appalling  Results  of  the  Battle. 

AFTER  the  death  of  Makaroff  in  the  Petropavlovsk  and  Witsoeft  hi  the 
Czarvitch,  the  Czar  in  desperation  ordered  Admiral  Rojestvensky  to 
organize  a  fleet,  take  it  to  the  Far  East,  and  endeavor  to  wrest  the 
supremacy  of  the  seas  from  Japan.  The  result  was  the  Second  Paciric 
Squadron  consisting  of  fifty  or  more  war  ships,  colliers  and  transports. 

A  Victory  without  Parallel. 

Tv/o  incidents  marked  the  voyage  of  the  Russian  squadron  to  the  seat  of 
war.  One  was  the  wanton  attack  made  upon  a  fleet  of  fishing  boats  off  the 
coast  of  England,  as  already  related,  the  other  was  the  alleged  violation  of 
neutrality  on  the  part  of  France,  who,  it  was  claimed,  rendered  great  aid  to 
Rojestvensky  at  Madagascar  and  various  Indo-China  ports.  After  effecting 
a  junction  with  the  division  under  Vice  Admiral  Nebogatoff,  who  had  been 
sent  to  his  aid,  the  Russian  commander  averted  an  international  crisis  by 
leaving  French  waters  and  sailing-  for  Vladivostok.  On  Saturday,  May  27, 
the  Russian  squadron  arrived  in  the  Straits  of  Korea,  where  Togo  was  lying 
in  wait  with  practically  the  entire  navy  of  Japan.  Two  days  later,  when  it 
became  known  that  the  Czar's  magnificent  armada,  the  most  formidable  fleet 
ever  gathered  together,  had  been  completely  annihilated,  the  world  stood 
aghast  at  the  immensity  of  the  disaster  to  the  Russian  Empire. 

The  Japanese  victory  in  the  Korean  Straits  is  not  only  without  parallel  in 
naval  histor)',  but  will  rank  among  the  decisive  battfes  of  the  world.  Togo's 
marvelous  achievement  in  wiping  out  the  Russian  fleet  practically  ended  the 
war,,  settled  the  command  of  the  eastern  seas  and  the  future  of  the  Orient. 
To  quote  from  a  well-known  authority,  "The  east  is  to  be  Mongol,  not  slave ; 
yellow,  not  white.     It  is  to  be  free,  not  bond.     It  is  to  work  out  its  salvation 

457 


458  THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA. 

under  the  sympathetic  leadership  of  the  intelHgent  and  progressive  Japanese, 
not  under  the  dictation  of  the  despotic  Russian  autocracy.  The  Japanese 
vnctory  will  have  important  effects  in  Russia  as  well  as  in  the  East.  It  cannot 
fail  to  hasten  the  downfall  of  the  bureaucracy  and  the  rise  of  free  institutions." 

Rojestvensky  Attempts  to  Deceive  His  Enemy. 

When  Admiral  Rojestvensky  was  at  Saddle  Islands,  his  last  coaling  sta- 
tion before  the  dash  for  Vladivostok,  he  completed  his  plan  of  campaign.  He 
sent  five  of  his  colliers  and  supply  ships  to  Shanghai,  hoping  to  draw  Togo's 
fleet  away  from  the  Korean  Straits.  He  then  ordered  the  rest  of  his  colliers 
and  supply  ships  to  pass  out  between  the  Liuchiu  Islands  and  Formosa,  east 
of  Japan  and  to  make  Vladivostok  through  the  Tsugaru  Straits.  In  the  mean- 
time Rojestvensky  had  divided  his  fleet  for  the  purpose  of  further  deceiving 
the  Japanese  commander,  with  instructions  to  reassemble  near  the  Korean 
Straits,  which  Rojestvensky  had  decided  to  force.  He  approached  the  nar- 
row passage  through  which  he  hoped  to  gain  the  Sea  of  Japan  with  his  fleet 
well  filled  with  coal,  every  gun  loaded,  and  his  men  on  duty  beside  their 
weapons. 

It  seems,  however,  that  Admiral  Togo  was  not  to  be  decoyed  away  from 
Iiis  position  for  the  reason  that  his  fast  sailing  scout  ships  had  kept  him 
constantly  informed  of  Rojestvensky 's  movements.  That  is  the  reason  why 
the  combined  Japanese  fleet  with  every  vessel  ready  for  action,  were  in  a 
position  to  oppose  the  passage  of  the  Russian  squadron. 

•'The  Destiny  of  Our  Empire  Depends  Upon  This  Action." 

The  warships  of  the  Czar  were  sighted  about  6  o'clock  Saturday  morning, 
May  27.  The  Japanese  ships  hoisted  the  flag  of  action,  the  Mikasa,  Togo's 
flagship,  signaling: 

"The  destiny  of  our  empire  depends  upon  this  action.  You  are  all 
expected  to  do  your  utmost." 

The  Japanese,  however,  did  not  advance  to  meet  them,  because  Togo 
had  planned  to  drive  them  upon  mines,  which  he  had  placed  southeast  of 
Tsushima  Islands.  Sailing  unsuspectedly  on  his  course,  Rojestvensky  sud- 
denly came  upon  the  Japanese  fleet,  which  opened  fire  upon  him.  The  Rus- 
sian commander  naturally  deviated  slightly  from  his  course  and  in  so  doing 
ran  upon  the  mines.     The  Borodino,  a  first-class  battleship,  built  at  a  cost  of 


THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA.  459 

over  five  million  dollars,  went  to  the  bottom  and  several  others  were  badly 
damaged,  Togo  tlien  directed  a  terrific  fire  against  the  Russians,  his  object 
teing  to  destroy  the  rapid  fire  guns  and  as  many  of  the  enemy's  searchlights 
as  possible,  in  order  to  enable  his  torpedo  boats  and  submarines  to  get  close 
to  the  enemy's  ships  and  complete  the  work  of  destruction  at  night.  The  bat- 
tle lasted  until  nightfall  with  the  odds  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Japanese. 
After  the  sun  had  set,  Togo  ordered  his  torpedo  craft  to  close  in  upon  the 
Russian  ships,  and  on  Sunday  morning  Rojestvensky  found  to  his  horror 
and  amazement  that  twx)  battleships,  three  cruisers  and  several  torpedo  boats 
had  been  sunk  and  two  battleships  rendered  absolutely  useless. 

A  Terrific  Hail  of  Fire. 

Then  commenced  an  all-day  battle.  The  Russians  appeared  to  be  power- 
less to  resist  the  fierce  onset  of  their  enemies.  Demoralized  by  the  incessant 
pounding  they  had  received  the  afternoon  before,  nearly  every  ship  dam.aged 
more  or  less,  distracted  by  the  terrible  strain  of  meeting  torpedo  attacks  all 
night,  in  the  words  of  an  eye-witness,  "They  were  no  longer  a  fleet;  they 
were  a  mass  of  frightened  vessels  like  so  many  scare-stricken  sheep,  which 
<:ould  not  hold  together."  They  scattered,  although  they  continued  on  their 
way  to  that  haven  of  refuge,  Vladivostok,  six  hundred  miles  away,  but  they 
made  poor  speed.  The  Japanese  battleships  and  armored  cruisers,  fresh  out 
of  the  dock,  kept  after  them,  giving  then  no  rest  and  making  them  exhaust 
«very  bit  of  ammunition  in  fruitless  efiforts  to  answer  the  terrific  hail  of  fire 
to  which  they  were  subjected. 

A  Remnant  Weak  and  Small. 

All  aay  the  Russians  ran,  and  when  night  came  still  they  had  no  rest. 
The  torpedo  boats  had  given  way  to  the  destroyers,  it  is  believed  because  of 
the  greater  radius  of  action  of  the  latter,  and  the  third  stage  of  the  engage- 
ment began. 

Before  the  latter  and  the  armor-clads  got  through  their  awful  work  dur- 
ing Sunday  night  Rojestvensky's  fleet  had  dwindled  down  to  five  fleeing  men- 
of-war,  nine  torpedo  boat  destroyers,  and  some  auxiliary  cruisers  and  repair 
ships. 

The  scene  during  Saturday's  battle,  as  described  by  an  eye-witness,  must 
have  been  superbly  terrible.  The  guns  of  nearly  fifty  warships  were  being 
fired,  and  now  and  again  a  crash  was  heard  as  the  reports  coincided. 


46o  THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA. 

For  a  time  the  belligerents  gave  shot  for  shot.  .All  through  the  conflict 
both  fleets  were  on  the  move,  but  the  Russians  v/ere  compelled  to  deviate 
from  their  original  course. 

Surrounded  by  Death-dealing  Squadrons. 

With  a  hostile  squadron  each  side  and  another  ahead,  Rojestvensky  prac- 
tically was  defeated  within  a  few  hours.  There  was  no  possible  directicMi 
for  him  to  turn.  He  had  fallen  into  a  trap  which  had  been  awaiting  him 
ever  since  he  left  Madagascar.  Hesitation  was  displayed  In  lue  Lact'c^.  of  his 
fleet  and  this  proved  the  forerunner  of  utter  confusion. 

The  Japanese  knew  instantly  that  the  Russians  were  beaten,  and  the  con- 
centration of  fire  now  became  absolutely  infernal.  Every  gun  was  trained. 
The  Russians  were  caught  in  a  cul  de  sac.  Long  lines  of  smoke,  like  sea 
clouds,  floated  across  the  water,  interspersed  with  flashes  of  artillery. 

At  2:10  p.  m.  the  bombardment  reached  its  zenith.  Between  3  o'clock 
and  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  Russian  cruiser  of  the  Admiral  Nakhimoff 
class  and  the  converted  cruiser  Kamtschatka  foundei-ed.  Previously  their 
upper  works  had  been  shattered  into  splinters  of  wood,  iron  and  steel. 

Then  the  Russian  fleet  broke  into  utter  disorder  and  the  vessels  no  longer 
preserved  their  formation.  They  went  along  in  a  zigzag  course,  some  pointed 
east  and  others  west.  At  that  moment  it  became  evident  that  Rojestvensky 
was  completely  defeated. 

The  Unerring  Judgment  of  the  Japanese. 

The  Japanese  with  that  judgment  which  in  supreme  moments  amounts 
to  inspiration  now  advanced  to  close  quarters.  The  Russian  ships  under  a 
fire  which  rendered  them  all  the  more  terribly  helpless  by  the  shortened  range 
at  which  the  Japanese  were  shooting,  no  IcHiger  existed  as  a  fleet.  The 
detached  squadrons  co-ordinated  in  no  direction  and  were  utterly  demoralized. 
Gradually  they  passed  towards  their  enemy's  coast  of  Nagata  province. 

.The  fighting  continued  until  sunset.  The  wind  had  gone  down  and  it 
was  a  glorious  night.  The  Kprean  sea,  usually  so  rough,  was  now  smooth, 
transparent,  and  blue  under  the  darkness  of  night.  The  ships  stood  out 
something  more  than  specters,  something  less  than  citadels. 

When  the  darkness  set  in  the  Russians  were  still  edging  towards  the 
north,  but  the  Japanese  in  horizontal  lines  lay  across  the  enemy's  bows,  an 
effective  barrier  linked  with  guns. 


THE  BATTLE  IK  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA.  461 

Under  Cover  of  Darkness  the  Destruction  is  Completed. 

At  8  p.  m.  the  Japanese  destroyers  and  torpedo  boats  went  forward  like 
a  great  cloud  of  locusts.  The  sea  was  swept  by  pale  tracks  of  innumerable 
searchlights.  Tlie  work  of  the  day  was  over,  the  work  of  the  night  had 
begun.  The  large  Japanese  warships,  which  had  found  the  range  of  the 
Russian  ship  so  well  by  light  of  day,  covered  the  torpedo  attack.  Beneath 
the  shells  from  the  great  guns  the  little  vessels  darted  forth  to  sting  and  sink 
the  enemy.  There  were  scores  and  scores  of  them.  Rojestvensky  never 
could  have  dreamed  that  Japan  had  such  a  flotilla. 

Under  the  fire  of  the  Russian  ships,  all  of  whose  guns  were  trained  upon 
them,  the  little  craft  dashed  on.  One  moment  a  shot  would  strike  the  water, 
but  not  before  the  boat  had  darted  towards  the  sides  of  the  heavy  warships. 

The  night's  work  resulted  in  the  sinking  of  the  battleships  Emperor  Alex- 
ander III.,  Oslabya,  and  Navarin,  and  three  cruisers. 

The  Battle  Rages  with  Unabated  Fierceness. 

No  rest  was  allowed  the  enemy.  When  Sunday  dawned  the.  Japanese 
fleet  came  to  still  closer  range,  pressing  the  Russians  on  to  the  northern  coast 
of  Nagata.  All  day  long  the  battle  raged  with  unabated  fierceness,  but  the 
Russians  had  no  strategical  position  from  which  they  could  ofiler  an  eft'ective 
resistance. 

The  Japanese  ships  always  kept  aliead  of  the  Russians.  Tlie  battle  was 
resumed  at  9  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  twelve  miles  east  of  Chiyupoyn  bay, 
and  lasted  all  day.  Here  the  Russians  suffered  their  heaviest  losses.  Tliey 
seemed  unprepared  to  repel  night  attacks.  During  the  first  night  attack  the 
Russians  showed  nine  searchlights  and  frustrated  the  attack,  but  clearly  indi- 
cated the  location  of  the  fleet,  which  brought  success  later. 

An  officer  of  tlie  battleship  Borodino,  in  describing  his  experiences  dur- 
ing the  battle,  says : 

"I  was  in  the  forward  barbette,  in  charge  of  one  of  the  twelve-inch  guns, 
A\hen  the  signal  to  begin  firing  was  given.  The  ship  nearest  to  us  was  the 
Japanese  battleship  Shikishima,  whose  projectiles  began  to  reach  us  within  a 
few  mcMTients  after  the  beginning  of  the  figlit  I  fired  the  first  gun  at  1 130 
p.  m.,  and  was  overjoyed  to  see  that  it  had  reached  its  mark,  for  the  Japanese 
vessel  was  struck  in  its  upper  works,  and  did  not  return  our  fire  for  at  least 
ten  minutes. 


462  THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA. 

The  Decks  Raining  with  Projectiles. 

"At  this  early  stage  of  the  battle  Admiral  Rojestvensky  came  aboard  the 
Borodino  and  directed  the  fighting  from  the  bridge. 

"Almost  immediately  afterwards  a  projectile  struck  my  barbette  and  ren- 
dered every  one  inside  insensible.  The  barbette  was  filled  with  smoke,  and  I 
groped  my  way  out.  The  decks  were  raining  with  projectiles.  Dozens  o£ 
men  lying  dead  or  wounded  at  every  turn. 

"When  the  barbette  was  cleared  I  re-entered  with  my  crew,  but  only  had 
time  to  fire  two  more  rounds  when  two  projectiles  struck  simultaneously  and 
disabled  both  of  the  twelve-inch  guns,  wrecking  the  barbette  and  killing 
eighteen  officers  and  men. 

An  Awful  Spectacle. 

'T  crawed  on  deck,  near  one  of  the  six-inch  guns,  which  was  surrounded 
with  dead  and  wounded.  Here  I  remained  for  an  hour,  during  which  time 
the  Borodino  became  a  shambles.  The  wardroom  and  steerage  were  crowded 
with  the  wounded.  Nearly  every  ammunition  hoist  had  been  wrecked  and 
shells  had  to  be  passed  by  hand.  A  shell  struck  the  port  screw  and  another 
disabled  the  steering  gear  and  the  signal  mast  was  carried  away. 

"Presently  when  everything  seemed  worse  than  confusion  the  quarter- 
master told  me  that  Admiral  Rojestvensky  had  been  wounded  and  was  being 
taken  to  another  ship,  a  destroyer.  I  saw  the  destroyer  leave  amid  a  hail  of 
small  arm  ammunition,  but  fortunately  none  struck  it. 

'"At  4  o'clock  the  Borodino  began  to  sink  down  by  the  head.  It  had 
been  hulled  several  times.     There  was  no  hope  of  saving  it. 

"The  Japanese  ships,  having  succeeded  in  breaking  our  battle  formation, 
came  closer  and  brought  every  available  gun  to  bear.  Otir  fighting  tops  were 
particular  targets.  Not  one  of  the  men  stationed  there  apparently  is  alive, 
I  volunteered  to  go  up  with  a  few  men.  The  sight  there,  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  desperate  battle,  was  so  terrible  that  it  haunted  me  and  has  robbed  me 
of  sleep  ever  since.  The  men  in  the  tops  had  been  hacked  to  pieces  by  the 
fire  of  the  Japanese.     The  machine  guns  were  hopelessly  ruined. 

"Fire  broke  out  in  several  places,  and  this  added  to  the  horrors  of  our 
already  sorely  tried  vessel.  The  fire  call  was  sounded,  but  there  were  so 
many  dead  or  wounded,  and  the  projectiles  were  falling  so  fast,  that  there 
was  no  chance  to  subdue  the  flames.     It  was,  therefore,  resolved  to  withdraw 


THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  STRAITS  OF  KOREA.  465 

from  the  line  of  fighting.  Our  steering  apparatus  had  been  repaired,  but 
eight  Japanese  ships  closed  around  us  and  bombarded  us  from  every  side. 
Our  forward  guns  were  useless,  but  we  did  good  work  with  the  after  twelve- 
inch  guns  and  those  of  the  six-inch  gims  which  were  not  out  of  action,  though 
they  were  worked  with  only  half  their  complement  of  men. 

Fighting  Desperately  to  the  Last. 

"The  Borodino  sank  lower  and  lower,  a  fine  target  to  the  overwhelming 
superiority  of  the  enemy,  but  we  fought  desperately,  although  hopelessly. 

"Towards  evening,  after  a  long  afternoon  of  terrible  exhaustion,  during 
which  there  was  neither  time  to  eat  nor  drink,  and  after  we  had  lost  fully 
400  killed  or  wounded,  we  noticed  two  Japanese  destroyers  bearing  down. 
One  of  them  we  sunk  with  a  shell  from  a  six-inch  gun,  but  the  other  came 
on  safely  and  launched  a  torpedo,  which  swept  past  our  bow.  We  were 
unharmed,  for  the  torpedo  missed  us.  Tlie  chief  engineer  now  came  and 
informed  us  the  fire  had  gained  such  headway  it  was  impossible  to  keep  the 
men  below.  A  moment  later  the  engine  room  crew  were  driven  out  by  the 
flames.  We  expected  every  moment  to  be  blown  up  and  were  preparing  for* 
the  inevitable,  when  a  whole  flotilla  of  torpedo  boats  came  down  on  us. 

"In  five  minutes  the  end  had  come.  Tlie  explosion  caused  the  ship  to 
turn  turtle.  I  was  drawn  down  deep  and  struck  by  pieces  of  wreckage,  but 
a  boat  from,  a  destroyer  picked  me  up,  with  others  from  the  Borodino,  and 
took  us  to  the  Kasuga,  from  which  we  were  transferred  to  shore." 

Appalling  Results  of  the  Battle. 

The  results  of  the  historic  naval  battle  in  the  straits  of  Korea  were  appal- 
ling. Over  a  score  of  Russian  warships,  valued  at  $100,000,000  were  sunk 
or  captured;  the  casualties  totaled  nearly  15,000  men  killed  or  taken  prison- 
ers. The  Japanese  losses  were  slight.  The  fleet  was  practically  undamaged 
and  only  about  400  men  were  killed  or  wounded.  Togo's  achievement  stamped 
him  as  the  world's  greatest  sea  fighter. 


# 


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